A Fistful of Summer & Poetry Books

Author: Peggy Dunstan

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From the inside front flap: "It wasn't all gloom and soup kitchens in the Depression, as Peggy Dunstan testifies in this charming, light-hearted chronicle. Her gently humorous reminiscences of a childhood in Christchurch and Wellington in the 1920s and 1930s will enchant the young-at-heart of all ages. Peggy Dunstan has a deft touch, a feeling for the detail that captures the essence of a time, a place, an episode. The pork butchers' picnic at Motukarara more than fifty years ago is vividly evoked, as is Myrtle Spink's disastrous encounter with the golden syrup. George Jeffs and the dire deeds of his Black Hand Gang, and a whole host of other lively characters and events. This is a book filled with summertime and laughter. Enhanced by Jean Oates's sensitive pencil drawings, it will delight a wide range of readers."

National Library of NZ Entry

This is not strictly a children’s book, but it makes a perfect family read-aloud. Peggy Dunstan, who also wrote delightful poetry for young readers (see below), shares her own childhood in A Fistful of Summer.

Her policeman father’s postings set the rhythm. The opening chapters linger in early Christchurch, sun-warmed streets, toddler adventures, before the family roots in Wellington for most of the tale. They finally moved to Wanganui in Peggy’s early teens. The pages brim with humour, family banter, seaside mischief, and quiet history. As someone who grew up in Wellington, every tram rattle and Lyall Bay picnic felt like stepping back into my own scrapbook.

Read aloud so parents can skip or soften as needed: adults drink and smoke in passing, the father swears once when furious at Trade Fair cheats, and near the end Peggy gets a chaste kiss. Nothing alarming, just easy to tailor.

The gem is the chapter “Parents Day.” Peggy admits she’s hopeless at ballet or drawing, yet poetry pours out of her. Teacher Miss Byers spots the spark and calls in Mr. Tombes from Whitcombe & Tombs. A lifelong friendship and Peggy’s writing life began there.

A second memoir, The Other Side of Summer, appeared in 1983.

At the National Library this year, I browsed Dunstan’s children’s poetry; rare in second-hand shops, but worth the hunt.

Behind the Stars: Poems for Children

Full-colour, illustrated by Giulietta Stomann, for under-eights. Light, funny verses capture Kiwi and Aussie moments: pōhutukawa shade, backyard cricket, cheeky fantails. Every day words that dance off the tongue. Samples below:

National Library of NZ Entry

Sunflowers and Sandcastles is its twin: same sunny voice, same age, same charm. Chase them in libraries, they’re pure joy.

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