Navigation: A Memoir by Joy Cowley

Navigation: A Memoir

Author: Joy Cowley

In the world of New Zealand children's books, the name Joy Cowley engenders enormous respect and affection.

She has published dozens and dozens of children's trade books of all kinds, such as the Mrs Wishy Washy series, the award-winning Shadrach trilogy and Hunter. And she has written literally hundreds of readers for the international educational book market. She is constantly in demand as a guest performer and speaker all over the world, but particularly in the US.

Joy has also written a tantalisingly small number of very fine adult novels, beginning with Nest in a Falling Tree in the 1970s and including Classic Music and Holy Days, both published by Penguin in the early 1990s.

Joy also has an additional dimension. She is an intensely thoughtful and spiritual person, who writes and practises what she preaches and owns a lodge/retreat centre at Fish Bay in the Marlborough Sounds created by Joy and her husband Terry.

Navigation is a relaxed, beautifully written memoir, not in any sense a formal autobiography. It contains wonderful sections on Joy's life growing up in a small Manawatu town (her first job on leaving school was as a pharmacy assistant in Foxton), her family life and her exploration of the joys of writing. It touches down constantly at Fish Bay in the Sounds, where Joy writes passionately about the landscape, the seasons and the natural world around her.

Robby and Hoot

By Joy Cowley

Robby the Robot has lost his toe and none of the shops are selling toes for such an old model. But when Robby moves his search to the nearby dump, he finds something even better.

At the dump, Robby meets Hoot – a small blue car destined for the crusher. Together they must escape the terrible security droids ... before they both end up as scrap!

A delightful...

Robby the Robot has lost his toe and none of the shops are selling toes for such an old model. But when Robby moves his search to the nearby dump, he finds something even better.

At the dump...

Published: 01/08/2011

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9780143505037

RRP: $14.95

Mrs Wishy Washy's Scrubbing

By Joy Cowley

Another wipe-clean board book is about to be added to the well-loved Mrs Wishy-Washy series. Joy Cowley and Elizabeth Fuller have joined forces once again to tell the story of super-clean Mrs Wishy-Washy and her brand new scrubbing machine. When she turns it on the machine goes glop! Wishy-washy, wishy-washy. Bubble, bubble, plop! However, the scrubbing machine soon reveals it has a mind of its own...

Published: 12/05/2006

Format: Board Book

ISBN: 9780143520139

RRP: $8.95

Mrs Wishy Washy's Farm

By Joy Cowley

Mrs Wishy-Washy is at it again, rubbing and scrubbing all the animals on the farm. But this time they are not standing for it. Duck, Cow and Pig are leaving mean old Mrs Wishy-Washy for ever. They run away to the big city. But they get lost maybe Mrs Wishy-Washy and her farm aren t so bad after all.

Published: 03/02/2003

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9780143519775

RRP: $14.95

Mrs Wishy Washy Makes a Splash

By Joy Cowley

Over forty million children have begun the road to reading with Mrs Wishy-Washy. Now she and her farmyard friends are back again but this time they re not the ones who end up in the tub!

Published: 01/09/2003

Format: Board Book

ISBN: 9780143519829

RRP: $8.95

Mrs Wishy Washy's Splishy Sploshy

By Joy Cowley

Another wipe-clean board book is about to be added to the immensely popular Mrs Wishy-Washy series. Joy Cowley and Elizabeth Fuller have pooled their talents once more to tell the story of the messy meanies who decide to play splashy-sploshy with some paint they discover in the garden shed.

Published: 01/05/2006

Format: Board Book

ISBN: 9780143520122

RRP: $9.95

Mrs Wishy-Washy

By Joy Cowley

Over forty million children have been head to reading by the incomparable Mrs Wishy-Washy and her saucy barnyard friends. Now, for the first time, the younger child can begin that same wondrous journey into reading with this rollicking board book edition.

Published: 04/04/2000

Format: Board Book

ISBN: 9780140567342

RRP: $8.95

Mrs Wishy Washy's Christmas

By Joy Cowley

It's Christmas, and that means Mrs. Wishy-Washy wants her animals as clean as shiny new tacks. In fact, if they don't scrub themselves from foot to head before she returns from shopping, they won't get their presents! But it's sooo cold in the big red barn. Duck knows a better bath-one with warm water and pink bubbles. But if Mrs. Wishy-Washy finds out, they can kiss their Christmas presents good-bye!...

Published: 01/11/2005

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9780143520023

RRP: $16.95

The Silent One

By Joy Cowley

The Silent One is Jonasi, sent from the sea as a baby to grow up in an isolated Pacific village. Separated from the villagers by his silence and their prejudices, Jonasi finds solace in his underwater world where he develops a special relationship with a huge white turtle. However, the superstitious villagers see both Jonasi and the turtle as evil spirits. A series of natural disasters and a struggle...

Published: 08/02/2001

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9780141310619

RRP: $14.95

Starbright & The Dream Eater

By Joy Cowley

Published: 05/05/2008

Format: Digital

ISBN: 9781742288444

Ticket To The Sky Dance

By Joy Cowley

Published: 05/05/2008

Format: Digital

ISBN: 9781742288451

Chicken Feathers

By Joy Cowley

A feel-good story about Josh, and his cantankerous pet hen, Semolina. Semolina can talk and in return for prawn crackers and the odd beer, she tells Josh all the animal gossip. The problem is that no one believes she can talk and Josh's warning about a fox on the loose in the chicken house is laughed at - until it is too late. Underscored by the drama of Josh's mother having to stay in hospital until...

Published: 01/05/2008

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9780143303909

RRP: $14.95

Classical Music POD

By Joy Cowley

Delia and Bea: sisters, but never close. Delia lives a glamorous life in New York and Bea lives thousands of miles away in New Zealand, looking after elderly parents and playing the role of dutiful daughter. Delia and Bea both long for the warmth and intimacy of sisterhood, but it always eludes them.

Published: 01/07/2007

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9780143008293

RRP: $24.95

Classical Music

By Joy Cowley

Published: 01/07/2007

Format: Digital

ISBN: 9781742287133

Silent One

By Joy Cowley

Published: 08/02/2001

Format: Digital

ISBN: 9781742288437

Bow Down Shadrach

By Joy Cowley

Shadrach is a very old, circus-trained Clydesdale horse – and the favourite family pet. When Hannah discovers that Shadrach has been sold to a dog food factory, she decides to mount a heroic rescue and enlist the help of her two younger brothers.
From the beginning, their plans go seriously wrong. By the time they've argued with the repulsive Wuff Stuff man, hidden Shadrach in a church and in...

Published: 03/05/2000

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9780141309156

RRP: $14.95