ALL CONTENT © DONOVAN BIXLEY 2014
WEBSITE DESIGN BY MAGMA DESIGN
 
  •  
  • CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW FOR MORE DETAILS. AT THE BOTTOM OF EACH PAGE IS A LINK TO ONLINE SALES. OR CLICK HERE FOR DIRECT LINKS TO MY BOOKS ON MIGHTY APE NEW ZEALAND
  • SQUAWK! Forest Birds of Aotearoa
  • Flying Furballs: 9 BOOK SERIES
  • Flying Furballs TAKE-OFF! full colour comic
  • Draw Some Awesome
  • How Maui Fished Up The North Island
  • How Maui Slowed The Sun
  • Maui and the Secret of Fire
  • A Portrait of Leonardo
  • Much Ado About Shakespeare
  • Mozart, the man behind the music
  • The Great Kiwi ABC Book
  • The Great Kiwi 123 Book
  • The Wheels on the Bus
  • Old MacDonald's Farm
  • The Good Old Looky Book
  • The Chritsmas Looky Book
  • The Looky Book
  • Little Bo Peep and More...
  • Pussycat Pussycat and More...
  • My First Board Book Series (6 books)
  • Fuzzy Doodle
  • Monkey Boy
  • Dinosaur Rescue: 8 BOOK SERIES
  • Dragon Knight: 6 BOOK SERIES
  • Three Bears Sort Of
  • Little Red Riding Hood ... Not Quite
  • We've Got A Boat
  • The Weather Machine
  • Dashing Dog
  • Northwood
  • Maddy West and the Tongue Taker
  •  
  • Phoebe and the Night Creatures
  • The Story of Bo and the Circus that Wasn't
  • A Right Royal Christmas
  • Faithfully Mozart -the fantastic world of Wolfgang Armadeus Mozart
  • The Tuotara and the Skink
  • Wacko Kakapo

 

 

THE WEATHER MACHINE 2013

A Wordless book by Donovan Bixley
Softcover 
240 x 250mm, 32 pages 

 

 

 

Once upon a time, in a world not so different to ours, a little blue man decides

to create a machine to control the weather. It all goes terribly wrong!

With humour, subtlety and a sense of adventure, Donovan Bixley’s

engaging illustrations capture both the hopefulness and naivety of

human industry in this wordless book.

 

REVIEWED BY FAERYSARAH@BLOGSPOT.CO.NZ

This is a book for everyone. Younger children will love the colourful,

fun illustrations of the strange but familiar world with its curious inhabitants.

Older children and adults will grasp the more subtle meaning behind this environmental

Frankenstein-like story about one man who wants to do good but creates a ‘monster’.

The book is set out much like a comic, no real words or story to read - it is a true

'picture book'. The quirky illustrations remind me of both the crazy Dr Seuss drawings

and the movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and have had my (almost) 4 year

old asking me so many questions. But not just about the themes and story and what

is happening within the pictures, but right down to colours, expressions, plants and

animals and parts of the machine. To me this is fantastic as Zoe has this growing

obsession with art and colour and to see her not just glance at the pages but to analyse

details within them is a great way to learn more about illustration and creativity.

My kids love the weather and love the environment, especially pointing out the moon,

or feeling the rain or wind. Zoe recently learned about the solar system during Matariki

and has so many questions about the earth and the sun and stars. So The Weather Machine

for us, is not just a fun picture book for bedtime, it has been an exploration and a chance

to teach and learn so many things. I highly recommend it for both young and old.