Alex Gilbert was born in Arkhangelsk, Russia. At the age of two he was adopted from an orphanage by Janice and Mark Gilbert and brought to New Zealand.
This book tells of Alex's childhood growing up in Whangarei with his brother Andrei, who was also adopted at the same time. It focuses on Alex's decision to search for his birth parents and the process. He describes finally meeting them at the end of 2013.
He also covers other significant events in a young person's life, such as moving from small-town Whangarei to big-city Auckland, his grandfather's passing, his relationship and break-up with his girlfriend, and pursuing his career in the television industry.
The book also includes a section in the middle with colour photographs from Alex's childhood. At the back of the book there are photographs from his visits to Russia in 2013, 2015, and 2017, and from the I'm Adopted meet ups and events.
Alex writes with simple prose that is easy to read. It is as if he is speaking directly to the reader telling his story.
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| This book can be found on the 1st Floor, Adult Non-Fiction at 762.734 GIL NZ. |
This book review is written by Graeme.
Our tree leaves, Book 1: how to create a family treasure with a new and less complex approach / by Catherine Pacheco
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| This book can be found on the 2nd Floor, Genealogy Lending at 920.1072 PAC |
This book review written by Trish
This book highlights the importance of keeping letters, diaries, travel records, memoirs, professional or personal scrapbooks and more.
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| This book can be found on the 2nd Floor, Genealogy Lending at 929.1 SAS |
Keeping chronicles: preserving history through written
memorabilia / by Rosemary Sassoon.
This book highlights the importance of keeping letters, diaries, travel records, memoirs, professional or personal scrapbooks and more.
The author writes in her introduction ‘genealogists trace
the dates of their ancestors, the written trace, of itself, illuminates the
character of past generations, as much as the letters, diaries and other lists
chronicle their daily life’.
In keeping these items which may seem pointless to some
family members, to others this is a link to the past for the elderly as their
memories fade or disappear through illness. Diaries also give family an insight
into why an ancestor did and said the things they did, often we wonder why a
parent or grandparent says certain things or became a difficult person to deal
with, maybe they were children during the Great War and lived through bomb
raids or being shipped off to the countryside or worse to another country as
those from England did.
Handwriting also brings back a much loved, long dead
relative as I discovered for myself recently when I found letters to my great
grandmother from her mother. Those letters gave me an insight into life for my
great great grandmother. This means she
is not just a name on the family tree, but a living breathing part of who I am.
This book also has some great tips for what type of ephemera
(newspaper cuttings, postcards, envelopes, travel records, maps, recipes etc.)
to keep and how to preserve them for future generations.
For those who like to use scrap-booking techniques and those
who want to keep stuff forever and those who would normally throw stuff away.
This book review written by Alison
Galvanised to succeed: a story of fortitude / Victoria Dansey, 1934
A story about Roger Delamere Dansey and his descendants. The story follows his arrival in Aotearoa New Zealand and the life he forges here. During his time in the armed and mounted constabulary he faced many challenges and taught himself to use the trigger of his carbine to produce morse code. He met his future wife Wikitoria, who saved his life. The story follows his descendants who also faced many challenges and faced them with fortitude. The story is moving, empathetic and gritty. |
| This book can be found on the second floor in the Rotorua Heritage Collection |
Galvanised to succeed: a story of fortitude / Victoria Dansey, 1934
This book review is written by Ani
