Win a copy of Hello Girls and Boys! Eldernet Gazette

Toys are fun - but they are also serious business, as David Veart makes clear in this remarkable story of New Zealanders and their toys from Maori voyagers to twenty-first-century gamers. Deploying the tools of archaeology and oral history, Veart in Hello Girls and Boys! digs through a few centuries of pocket knives and plasticine to take us deep into the childhoods of Aotearoa - under the eye of mum or running wild at the end of the orchard, with a doll in the hand or an arrow in the ear, memorising the rail lines of Britain or heading down to Newmarket to pick up a Modelair kitset.
RRP $65
Review by Eleanor in the Eldernet Office
For a trip down the memory lane of a childhood growing up in New Zealand the hard cover "Hello Girls and Boys - a New Zealand toy story" makes a great start. Whether it's a more recent or distant childhood you're bound to find something here that will resonate.
David Veart takes us on an interesting journey from pre European settlement right up to the present day, giving fascinating historical information about the origins of, ascendency, transformation in some instances and eventual demise in others, of toys and games over time.
Many lovely original photographs (taken by Nigel Gardiner) accompany the text and most of these are from private collections. As these toys have obviously been well played with, they have that quality of feeling like one's own.
Bessie Murray's Maori Doll was the image though that really caught my attention. I've not seen her work before and if this doll was for playing with, then I'd have hoped it was only for special occasions; it's such an evocative figure of mother and baby.
I have some of my grandmothers, mothers and of course my own toys and a number of these feature on the pages. Finding out more about their genesis how the toys were used and by whom and whether they were imported or home grown helped fill in gaps in my knowledge.
I appreciated the fact that home made toys make it in here too as well as games that cost little more than energy and the desire to play. Some toys featured were of course out of the reach of many, elaborate dolls house, Meccano and the such like but activities such as perfecting a shot with a shangai and skill with games such as marbles could be experienced by all. This book captures the pleasure of the moment of play.
The social context is also discussed but not to the extent that feels intrusive, not does it threaten to become an academic treatise. It's just a thoroughly entertaining read, adds to one's knowledge and would make a great Christmas gift- particularly for an older person. It's also a lovely book to facilitate inter-generational conversations and is presented in a way that one can dip in and out of. If you're over thirty I'd think you'll be turning the pages.