Southerly by David Haywood

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Southerly: When Otters Get Famous

126 Responses

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  • Ross Mason,

    Sounds otterly delightful.

    Upper Hutt • Since Jun 2007 • 1590 posts Report Reply

  • Ross Mason,

    WHAT? Sold out the first edition when this is the frist time we have seen it? Humbug! But but but...my superannuation fund....selling first editions....

    Upper Hutt • Since Jun 2007 • 1590 posts Report Reply

  • Graeme Edgeler,

    1. How special was the first edition?

    2. So I can't get this in the 50% off any 1 Kids' book sale Whitcoulls is currently having (which isn't really limited to 1 book)?

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 3215 posts Report Reply

  • David Haywood,

    Ross Mason wrote:

    WHAT? Sold out the first edition when this is the frist time we have seen it? Humbug!

    Very sorry, Ross! An email went out to previous PA Books buyers last week, and the first edition sold out on pre-purchases. I just checked, and the email *was* sent to you -- I can only assume it must have got spam filtered by you-know-who...

    But I'm sure that even a second edition copy will provide for your financial needs come retirement.

    Dunsandel • Since Nov 2006 • 1156 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Wonderful, I think this will finally make having had children worth it.

    You deserve extra points for not calling this post "The Life of Otters".

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Ross Mason,

    I just checked, and the email *was* sent to you

    I want my hammer back!

    Upper Hutt • Since Jun 2007 • 1590 posts Report Reply

  • Ian MacKay,

    "Then walking to school through the snow, he became so hungry that he had to eat his own homework."

    Now David. Was this story autobiographical? It was his maths.

    Bleheim • Since Nov 2006 • 498 posts Report Reply

  • Judi Lapsley Miller,

    Proud owner of #7. Will the next book feature a monotreme by any chance? There's not enough books about monotremes...

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 106 posts Report Reply

  • Jolisa,

    The real Albert Otter (left) and the fictional Albert Otter (right).

    Whoah. That's uncanny.

    As one who was privy to the PRE-first-edition edition, and has thus been reading the book at bedtime for a week or so now, I can offer some reviews:

    "I really liked it. My best bit was at the end, where he turned out to be a [spoiler redacted]. Hey, let's read it again!"
    -- Toby (4.5)

    "It was OK. Bit young for me. But if you were aged 3-6, it would be basically the Harry Potter of that age range."
    -- James (9)

    "By no means my least favourite book to be asked to read several nights in a row. And, while it does not technically pass the Bechdel test, it also does not push our grrrr feminist buttons in the way that traditional fairy tales often do. Plus, hello, an otter, for f^&'s sake. Not just any otter: a beautifully drawn, earnest, brave little otter. In a school uniform. I expire, nightly, from the otter deliciousness of the conceit."
    -- Jolisa (a surprisingly well-preserved 29)

    Auckland, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 1472 posts Report Reply

  • Jolisa,

    There's not enough books about monotremes...

    I have a draft of a very overcooked alphabet book lying about somewhere, with the working title The Platitudinous Platypus...

    Auckland, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 1472 posts Report Reply

  • David Haywood,

    Ross Mason wrote:

    I want my hammer back!

    There is a little something extra in your package -- but nothing so good as that hammer, alas.

    Ian MacKay wrote:

    Now David. Was this story autobiographical? It was his maths.

    I may have occasionally licked a maths textbook, Ian -- but I deny that I've ever actually eaten one.

    Dunsandel • Since Nov 2006 • 1156 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    I can report that the book looks really superb. Just great.

    And readers will doubtless be glad to know that it's printed by Apple Pie Design, home of the lovely Ian Dalziel.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    We don't need no steenkin' badgers...
    ...but a romp of Otters is always a welcome addition to the thin literary Lutrinae canon, joining such classics as Tarka the Otter by Henry Williamson (also made into a movie by Gerald Durrell & Peter Ustinov), Gavin Maxwell's Ring of Bright Water, Brian Jacques' Redwall Series and Russell Hoban's Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas - which was turned into a televisual classic by Jim Henson:

    - will we see an otter musical by The Bridle Path in the near future?

    Wikipedia also reminds us that Hermione Granger's Patronus is an otter...

    ... and I was fascinated to read that the word Otter (Otor, Oter) stems from the Proto-Indo-European language root wódr which
    also gave rise to the English word water.

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    I am very very excited, David. Our kindergarten will be ordering one, tout de suite.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • sally jones,

    David. I'm sold :). But don't underestimate your artistic talents. If only the actual Alan Bollard looked as good as you drew him!

    I hope it starts a craze of otter ownership. Better an otter than a tiger...You'd have to have floorboards, preferably polished, not carpet. Lino would be okay. And a pool.

    Love "Otterly delightful". You can't beat succinct in Irish (Scottish?).

    The illustrations are indeed appealing. There's a minimalism of form but the colours are hard out, creating some kind of juxtaposition - I think. I know nothing about art.

    The two Albert's are remarkably alike. Do you think the original Albert modelled his look on his name? Stranger things...

    Then walking to school through the snow, he became so hungry that he had to eat his own homework."

    I love this too! Great image. Which homework do you think would be hardest to swallow? I'm going with maths because of all the sharp angles.

    Auckland • Since Sep 2010 • 179 posts Report Reply

  • Deborah,

    Proud owner of #7.

    Hah. FIRST! (Thanks to being 2 1/2 hours behind most of the rest of you, so I was still up and about when the e-mail alert came through.) 'Though I have not as yet seen the book, because it has been delivered to my parents' place, for me to pick up when we move home to NZ in 41 days (not that I'm counting... much).

    Brilliant snippets of lutrine information, thanks, Ian.

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    I know it's not on topic but can I just say how enormously I am excited that we will live in the same country once more?

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Tamara,

    Mine arrived too but I've saved opening it until tomorrow so that I can be the one to read it to my girls and not the (lovely) nanny. Ooh, wonder what number I got?

    New Zealand • Since Oct 2010 • 115 posts Report Reply

  • Gabor Toth,

    I've often thought how lucky we are in NZ that those damn Victorian-era acclimatisation societies didn't try to introduce otters along with their Mustelid cuzzie-bro's ferrets and stoats. I imagine it was only because they were thinking about their precious trout and salmon fishing resources (and not wanting to share them with anybody) that stopped it from happening. If it had happened I imagine they could have run riot with our native fauna like every other introduced carnivore. The nice thing is that we can still read stories about otters going to school and be charmed by them rather than being programmed to think that we need to bait them with cyanide.

    Wellington • Since Dec 2006 • 137 posts Report Reply

  • Andre Alessi,

    Governor "Butch" Otter approves, no doubt.

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    David: A terrible thing, I know, but I can't help thinking what the post-marriage sex life of Albert the Otter and the princess must have been like ;-)

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Geoff, we're trying to keep otter sex off this thread. You know what happened last time.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    I hope it starts a craze of otter ownership. Better an otter than a tiger...You'd have to have floorboards, preferably polished, not carpet. Lino would be okay. And a pool.

    I would give up vast amounts of money (which I don't actually have, but anyway) to have a pet otter. Even more to have four.

    I'm the guy that goes to the zoo and while everyone else wanders around all the animals, I spend two or three hours watching the otters play. Most favouritist animal ever.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • FletcherB,

    Which homework do you think would be hardest to swallow?

    Metal work? :)

    West Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 893 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    An email went out to previous PA Books buyers last week

    There are disadvantages to cash transactions in bars, though I treasure the inscriptions..

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

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