Books with author Sindy McKay

GIANT-SIZED! (12.5" x 16.75") We Both Read BIG BOOKS are the perfect choice for teachers to use in a group setting to encourage early readers, and even pre-readers, to participate in the shared-reading and discussion of a story. The students can participate in the reading of the story with their own pages and appropriately leveled text! Four We Both Read titles are now available in the BIG BOOK format! (My Day, Lulu's Lost Shoes, About Pets, and Being Safe) Each features the entire text, as well as all the illustrations and photos, from the original We Both Read edition.

NZ Post Children's Book Award-winning young adult novel about a young girl’s journey back from anorexia to health and independenceJohanna is in hospital, writing letters to her best friend, Issy: letters because for Johanna, most things that we take for granted have turned into privileges. She can only have visitors, leave her room, or even use the phone, if she starts to eat. Johanna suffers from anorexia, and her condition has reached a point where doctors, nurses, and counsellors have had to find new ways to encourage, bribe, cajole–or, as she thinks, punish her–into returning to a normal weight. As Johanna exchanges letters with Issy, and her own family, the novel is also peppered with extracts from Johanna’s diary, quotations from the hospital notice boards, poems, and even bathroom graffiti. Johanna offers us wry, insightful portraits of her fellow patients in the ward. Counterbalancing her experience, Issy offers us a picture of a full family, school and social life, a life that Johanna has left behind … for a while at least. Slowly, we–and Johanna–start to unravel the history that brought her to these desperate circumstances. It’s the story of a young girl struggling to understand her mother’s actions, and taking on too much responsibility because of an adult’s inability to cope; it’s also the story of how Johanna, through witnessing the worst possible outcome of anorexia, begins to pull herself back to recovery. Sandy McKay tackles a very sober topic with a lightness of touch that neither undermines the gravity of the subject, nor skirts the most difficult truths about the condition.

This book is a perfect way to introduce a discussion about safety! Written with the advice of emergency response agencies, this book focuses on simple things that children can do to help them stay safe while at home, at school and at play. Includes a Safety Activity Guide! Follow up the reading of the book with interactive discussions and activities to practice being safe. Features activities such as role-playing and creating personal safety booklets.

The funny, imaginative, award-winning story of a boy who tries to save the world through recycling.Every year in the developed world, an average person throws away 45 kgs of plastic, two trees worth of paper, 160 cans and 107 bottles. Colin takes his recycling school project to heart and tries to convert his own family first, with great difficulty, before he tries to save the world. He becomes a self-appointed eco-warrior and comes up against his sister, who delivers junk mail, his mother, who sells real estate and hang-glides for de-stressing and his father who spends a lot of time in the garage. Colin becomes involved with the Roseview Rubbish Rescue Centre and the character who runs it. They along with others, organise a campaign to protest selling off the centre for development.This is a well-told story with many hilarious episodes that will delight young readers.The text is playful and imaginative, lighthearted and funny, but also intelligent and informative. It won the Junior Fiction category of the NZ Post Children's Book Awards in 2002.

What is Colin doing scrambling about in the rubbish bin? Has he lost something? His sister thinks he's lost his marbles, his father thinks he's lost his manners, and his mother - well - she's losing her temper very quickly. But Colin wants to save the world. And the rubbish bin seems a good place to start. But his family are NO help at all! 'During a year an average family will probably throw away 1.5 tonnes of rubbish - the equivalent of half the weight of a good-sized elephant' His Dad has no job, his Mum works too hard (and hang-glides in her spare time!) and Colin's sister, Allie, gets a job delivering junk mail. Saving the world is harder than it looks. And when the council threaten to close down the local recycling center - some drastic action is called for... A well told story with many hilarious episodes to delight young readers. The text is playful and imaginative, lighthearted and funny, but also intelligent and informative. A high spirited story, playfully told, which includes great recycling tips and startling facts about ecology.