Yak and Gnu
Age 3+
Picture Books
From the team behind The Frog Who Lost His Underpants, this hilarious rhyming tale is full of adventurous animals and boats galore.
Meet Yak and Gnu. Two best friends who love to row and sing. But who will they meet on their journey down the river?
Creators
Juliette MacIver lives north of Wellington City with her husband and four children. She majored in linguistics at university, took a detour and became a bicycle courier for a year, then went back to university to complete a diploma in teaching English. She taught for five years before quitting and starting a government job, which she left once her first child was born. Juliette has always written little pieces, frequently in rhyme, and has had “write a children’s story” on her List Of Things I Want To Do In My Life for a very long time. Little Witch was her first title with Walker Books.
Cat Chapman grew up in rural Waikato and moved to Auckland as a teenager. She gained a Bachelor of Design majoring in Photography and after a brief stint as a wedding photographer and an English teacher in Japan, she worked for a number of years at a design company. In 2010 she attended a night course in children's illustration which was shortly followed by a contract for her first book from Walker Books Australia. She currently works full-time chasing after her young son and illustrating books. Cat enjoys working quickly with ink, pen and water colour, and enjoys creating characters that are full of movement, humour and personality. She is often caught with a strangely contorted face as she unwittingly mimics the characters expression she is drawing. Cat and her family currently live in Auckland.
Reviews
Watercolour illustrations extend the fun of this clever rhyming story.
Pinerolo Newsletter
These amazing rhymes are just a few of many in this book that will delight readers and young listeners.
Bookrapt
The style of it brings to mind the work of Dr Seuss, and even Roald Dahl to some extent.
Booksellers NZ
Strong rhymes as ever from Juliette MacIver, and Cat Chapman’s animals at sea are bound to get a laugh.
Otago Daily Times
Chapman’s ink-and-watercolor artwork has a spring-fresh quality, as if she were capturing the scene while lying along a riverbank with her sketch pad in the early-season sun.
Kirkus
A hilarious tale
OH Baby Magazine
An appealing story to read and reread with youngsters of 2-5 years. A lot of time will be spent talking about the illustrations as well.
103.1FM Grafton
The cartoon-style of the outlined watercolours with their breezy colouring, complements the humour and early readers will be amused by the quirky detail of the drawings.
4MBS Radio
a comical rhyming picture book that celebrates the bonds of special friendship
The Wall Street Journal
Grown-ups will grin and kids will shout, “Read it again.”
The New York Post
Can the friends maintain their singular friendship at sea with a fleet of other beasts? Getting to the answer is lots of absurd fun.
The Boston Globe
A boatload of fun.
Booklist
those that enjoy word gymnastics will likely be satisfied.
School Library Journal
Cat Chapman’s illustrations are action-packed and smile-inducing, with plenty of movement and fantastic colourways. It’s so wonderful to see illustrators inject such visual humour into books.Loving this Juliette/Cat pairing–it makes for a rollicking and visually rewarding book.
Kids' Book Review
The rhymes will be a hit with preschoolers and the different animals on their respective vessels are good for simple counting exercises…it’s also a sweet ode to friendship.
Junior Books+Publishing
This is another winning collaboration that will have your child laughing out loud and wanting to read time and again.
Tots to Teens
The Seussian silliness of the verse makes this a sure bet for kids looking for something gnu
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