Hold My Teeth While I Teach You to Dance

“Hey mum, you have to read this book! It’s really funny!”

– Woody Tutugoro, Waiheke Island

“I have read your novel Hold my Teeth… and enjoyed it very much. I loved the fact it was my era too, and my stomping ground. Even down to the songs and camp stretcher! and local Uni. I also enjoyed those strong women characters – and so many of them. It reminded me of the Dragon Tattoo series, only set in Auckland. There were the occasional paragraphs that I had to read out to Derek because of their brilliance, like the description at the crematorium. I liked the way that you tied up the loose ends at the end.”

– Pamela Gordon

“Intriguing and comical. Strong quirky characters and subtle social commentary. Wonderful read. Great to have a local setting.”

– Emily Burts

“I absolutely loved it. It was a book that made me want to race to the end, but would force myself to put it down and think about it for a few hours because I didn’t want it to finish! Exciting, funny, loved all the NZ references, sayings etc. I was sitting reading it in the combined club restaurant in Port Douglas and I forgot where a was and laughed out loud! I love the references to Jack Reacher, and I think the title is superb, some how reflects the relationship between our generation and the young of today! Sad to have finished it, loved Grandad Detective, are there more books about him?“

– Chris Walton Roecoert

“Mike Johnson is one of New Zealand’s most accomplished and inventive writers. A skilled practitioner at whatever literary craft he turns his hand to, Johnson is a writer at one with the word, its power, its airy finesses and everyday solidities, its resourcefulness, its craft.”

– Siobhan Harvey