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A seriously fun New Zealand toy story!

Toys are made for playing with, but they are also serious business, as this remarkable story of New Zealanders and their toys makes clear. In Hello Girls and Boys! David Veart 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, hula hooping or assembling kitsets. Veart tells a big story of how our two peoples made their fun on the far side of the ocean - Maori and Pakeha learned knucklebones from each other, young Aucklanders established the largest Meccano club in the world, and Fun Ho! and Torro, Lincoln and Luvme helped to build a successful local toy industry under the shade of import protection. But the book also covers little things and little people - homemade dolls and cereal toys, miniatures and marbles. From double happys and golliwogs to Buzzy Bees, tin canoes, Meccano and Tonka trucks - Hello Boys and Girls! revisits the crazes and collecting, playtimes and preoccupations of big and little New Zealand kids for generations.

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Reviews

This book explores the ways in which toys are part of our everyday life and as such document moments in history, changes in society and culture, and evolving technologies. - Lynette Townsend, Journal of NZ Studies

Very few publications exist that focus on New Zealand childhood, and this book with its focus on toys, is a much-needed resource for toy enthusiasts and those with a passion for childhood things. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable read and a book that many people, including myself, will dip into again and again. - Lynette Townsend, Journal of NZ Studies

Toys are for children to play with, and adults to make money out of, right? Not so says David Veart, in this fascinating look at toys in New Zealand. - Gordon Findlay, Booksellers NZ