Sandy Fussell's "Polar Boy" was published in August 2008 to very positive reviews, including comments such as:

"Wonderful foil characters in pesky younger sister, Miki, friend Finn and bully Tuag, destined to become the next shaman after Nana, provide a pivotal conduit for Iluak to face his fear, challenge his destiny and assume his maturation from boy to man. The bear remains an apt motif for inner struggle and eventual appeasement. Chapter style, easy to read, the right amount of foreshadowing and predictability ensure the novel will have great appeal for younger readers." (Reading Time)

"Polar Boy is a gripping, well-researched and thoroughly enjoyable adventure for upper primary readers, of particular appeal to boys." (Magpies Review)

"Accessible & action-packed adventure story... A brilliantly researched & evocative tale of a fascinating time rarely written about in popular culture." (New Zealand Standing Orders)

Sandy launched POLAR BOY during Book Week at Waniora Public School, where she was also a guest speaker. It was fitting indeed that the launch should take place in the library of her son Cassidy's school, since Sandy (as a past president of the school's P & C) campaigned for building improvements which led to the library's construction. 

Sandy says: "Jane Pretty launched the book, and at the end of her speech she pointed to the 2008 CBCA shortlist poster on the wall and said "Now I'm going to make a prediction. Next year we'll see Polar Boy on that poster." The kids and I all had a giggle together. But I'm not laughing now. Just a big grin!"

Sandy was (happily) stunned when Polar Boy made the shortlist instead of Owl Ninja, the other submission from Walker Books (Owl Ninja is part of the Samurai Kids series). "I've always felt that Polar Boy was my best work," she says, "but that it was the unloved sibling overshadowed by the more highly visible Samurai Kids books. So I was super excited!"

Sandy describes how she organised the book launch:

• I sent media alerts and follow up press releases to all local papers and radio stations. Because it was a local launch in Book Week it generated very good media coverage.
  
  
• The book was launched by the school librarian and friend, Jane Pretty
  
  
• The book launch was held during lunchtime and I was quite surprised when over 50 children came as they had already sat through me speaking to them for 40 minutes!
  
  
• To underline the arctic theme I gave everyone an iceblock - and for an activity made origami polar bears. [Note from Sandy: the origami activity I chose (Bear 1) proved to be a little too hard for some of the kids, so I opted for a different origami bear (Bear 2) for future talks.)

Want to See Sandy's Diary on the Writing of Polar Boy? Here are a couple of excerpts:

At the beginning:

"Today Polar Boy officially began! The first paragraph has been rolling around in my head for over a month now - but I refused to write it down as anything more than a quick scrawl so I wouldn't forget. I have so many half finished manuscripts the rule is now firmly in place - nothing new begins until the last one is finished (I hate that rule already!!!) I have fiddled and refiddled and jiggled and juggled the words until I have them the way I want them. Klunk-tunk tunk needs to be placed exactly right. And so this ms begins klunk-tunk tunk."

At the end:

"Oh no - I have end of ms block. I don't want to write the last bit because then it will be all over. I never get writer's block - my head is like one of those mailboxes with too much stuffed in it - but sometimes I get so caught up in the story I don't want to tie it down with words."

and

"Done. Now the sun can come back in. The ice has ended. Melodramatic I know but I feel that way. No matter what happens to the ms, completing and despatching it is an achievement anyway."

To read more of Sandy's Polar Boy diary, go to this page on her website:

http://www.sandyfussell.com/diary_pb.htm