Books with author philip smith

Triple Crown of Winter Endurance Trek freezing trails with tough endurance athletes braving hundreds of miles in winter's arduous elements: blowing snow, bitter temperatures, blustery winds. Discover polar secrets of these blizzardy behemoths. Face 366 miles of the big three of international winter ultras-Tuscobia Winter Ultramarathon, Arrowhead 135, Actif Epica.

A powerful, gripping and passionate award winning young adult novel of land rights, Maori spirituality, coming-of-age and love.The Unknown Zone begins with the story of fifteen-year-old Hemi Ratana who, traumatised by a humiliating incident, climbs a giant kauri on the Coromandel Peninsula in a do-or-die test of courage.High in the head branches of the kauri, Hemi finds a human skeleton. Around its neck is a key on a chain. What does the key unlock?Nearly 160 years earlier, on the West Coast of the South Island, a group of sealers from Australia is taken captive by Ngai Tahu marauders. In a desperate bid for survival one of these captives joins up with another Maori group and they all journey to the eastern Coromandel.These two stories intertwine in a exciting plot-driven adventure story that won the Best First Book Award in the 2006 New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards.

This is a light-hearted story of one school term in the life of 15-year-old Poppy Blue Claassen, a girl from a mixed-race family in Cape Town. Her attempts to emulate Nelson Mandela goes awry with hilarious, and potentially dire, consequences, but Poppy learns some valuable lessons—about philanthropy, and friendship, but mostly about herself.When Poppy enthusiastically embarks on various challenges sparked by Fynbos High School’s 67 Days of Mandela project, she clashes with prickly Ms de Haack, the new life orientation teacher. The idealistic headmaster Mr Bruinders, who had hoped that some of Nelson Mandela’s life lessons would rub off on his students, is also repeatedly tested by Poppy’s escapades as she tries to live out the Madiba spirit.Poppy’s personal nemesis, the irksome Josh Jordaan, lands her in trouble on several occasions. An impulsive act of retaliation sets off a chain of events which leads to a fiasco at the school’s open day and babysitting at the bizarre Thompson household. This culminates in a confrontation with some unsavoury characters from a Long Street nightclub when she and her friends try to rescue her beloved Labrador, Bella.Just when Poppy thinks that her life has finally returned to normal, there is more drama; this time involving her best friend Gina. But is it possible that, by the end of the term, Poppy had somehow managed to honour Mandela’s legacy after all—despite all Mr Bruinders’ misgivings?

The Triple Crown of Winter Endurance treks freezing trails with tough endurance athletes braving hundreds of miles in winter's arduous elements: blowing snow, bitter temperatures, blustery winds. Discover the polar secrets of these blizzardy behemoths. Face 366 miles of the big three of international winter ultras—Tuscobia Winter Ultramarathon, Arrowhead 135, Actif Epica. Trace how they constitute membership in one of sport's toughest awards: The Order of the Hrimthurs. Learn how you can win the famous Antarctica explorer "Ernest Shackelton Award" or a free Iditarod Trail Invitational Ultra Distance entry. Discover the world of "Doubles." Only here, the "300-Mile Man: Triple Crown Edition." Chocked full of frigid photos that may warm your heart. Learn this extreme sport now.

In this new account of New Zealand's history, Philippa Mein Smith considers the rugged and dynamic land from its break from Gondwana 80 million years ago to the beginning of the twenty-first century. Mein Smith highlights the effects of the country's small size and isolation, from late settlement by Polynesian voyagers, very late colonization and settlement by Europeans, and the interactions that made these people Maori and Pakeha, to struggles over land, and efforts through time to manage global forces. Placing New Zealand in its global and regional context, the book reveals its links to Britain, despite being immersed in the Pacific, and part of Australasia. Distinctively, it reveals key moments contributing to the founding of the country's national myths.

In this new account of New Zealand's history, Philippa Mein Smith considers the rugged and dynamic land from its break from Gondwana 80 million years ago to the beginning of the twenty-first century. Mein Smith highlights the effects of the country's small size and isolation, from late settlement by Polynesian voyagers, very late colonization and settlement by Europeans, and the interactions that made these people Maori and Pakeha, to struggles over land, and efforts through time to manage global forces. Placing New Zealand in its global and regional context, the book reveals its links to Britain, despite being immersed in the Pacific, and part of Australasia. Distinctively, it reveals key moments contributing to the founding of the country's national myths.