New Releases by Gordon Ell

Europeans had no idea what they would find when they first set eyes on Aotearoa. First Encounters selects some of the key writings from these early traders, missionaries, explorers and surveyors covering nearly 200 years from Abel Tasman in 1642 and Joseph Banks in 1769, through to early settlers such as John Logan Campbell in 1840. Their records of encounters with this new land and its Māori inhabitants reveal stories of wonder, curiosity, misunderstanding and adventure all with maximum interest and impact for modern readers. The text is liberally illustrated with two-colour imagery and historical photos, alongside fact boxes explaining historical language and events.

The discovery of gold in New Zealand in the 1800s led thousands of people to rush to overnight tent towns set among isolated mountains and rivers. In the north, vast forests of giant kauri trees cloaked the land. Yet now only a tiny fraction of the trees survive in threatened forests, and many goldmining settlements are just ghost towns. Rush to Riches tells the story of how mining for gold and felling the kauri forests helped found New Zealand, with both Māori and new immigrants involved in these new industries. The tales in this book reveal how exploiting these resources changed the face of the land and its people.-back cover.

Get ready for a new take on New Zealand society, history and geography in one of the first two books in The NZ Series, a snappily designed and fact-packed collection for intermediate and high-school age readers. Here in striking and clear terms are the earth movements above and below New Zealand - with investigation into the history of volcanic and earthquake activity, leading to the present-day status for the country. The informative, easy-to-understand text is accompanied by numerous explanatory diagrams, historical and modern-day photographs and `Fact File' boxes. Ours is a physically small country but it packs a powerful amount of geological portraiture into its landscape, as does the keen design of Volcanoes and Earthquakes in New Zealand.

A brand new, fully revised edition of the best-selling New Zealand Traditions & Folkore, first published in 1993. This new edition covers more than 700 updated anecdotes, ideas and traditions that we share as New Zealanders, and which make us different from Australia, England, the United States or any other part of the English-speaking world. Some traditions date back to early colonial times while others reflect our technical innovation as well as our rapidly changing urban life. All in all, A-Z of Kiwi Fact & Folklore provides a fascinating journey back to the roots of our Kiwi culture.

Introduces some of the ancient plants and animals which have been preserved as fossils in New Zealand, and explains how fossils are a source of coal, oil and gas. Suggested level: junior, primary.

An account of the great kauri forests of New Zealand, the vanished kauri industries and the protected trees of today. Suggested level: intermediate, junior secondary.

This is the story of the Friday night adventures of a group of young New Zealanders in the city centre of Auckland. It is based on the children's own reminiscenced, it is alternately exciting, funny and sad. Set in the 1980's.