A summer reading challenge for teachers
Each year, Read New Zealand Te Pou Muramura issues a reading challenge for the summer holidays. This year and last, the wero is aimed at teachers. We chatted with Sarah Dillon, Te Pou Muramura’s Communications and Engagement Manager, to find…
Review: The Mess of our Lives
Elizabeth Heritage reviews Mary-Anne Scott’s latest novel for teens. We have rats in our house but it’s on purpose, as pets. In The Mess of our Lives, the new YA novel by Mary-anne Scott, there are rats in the house…
Review: Into the Ice
Rebecca Priestley reviews a beautifully illustrated Antarctic miscellany. What’s your South Polar seadog name? I can’t decide whether mine is Phytoplankton Stinker or Aurora Moondog. Or perhaps it’s Snotsicle Albatross? No, I’ve got it—it’s Iceblink Stormcatcher. You can find your…
From the Shop Floor: bookseller recommendations for Christmas
Eight year olds to teens edition. Avid book collectors know that some of the best informed opinions on books are found over the counter at your local bookstore, so we’ve asked Aotearoa’s specialist children’s booksellers what they’re recommending for Christmas…
From the Shop Floor: bookseller recommendations for Christmas
Babies to eight year olds edition. Avid book collectors know that some of the best informed opinions on books are found over the counter at your local bookstore, so we’ve asked Aotearoa’s specialist children’s booksellers what they’re recommending for Christmas…
Regular Features
Features
A summer reading challenge for teachers
Each year, Read New Zealand Te Pou Muramura issues a reading challenge for the summer holidays. This year and last, the wero is aimed at teachers. We chatted with Sarah Dillon, Te Pou Muramura’s Communications and Engagement Manager, to find...
From the Shop Floor: bookseller recommendations for Christmas
Eight year olds to teens edition. Avid book collectors know that some of the best informed opinions on books are found over the counter at your local bookstore, so we’ve asked Aotearoa’s specialist children’s booksellers what they’re recommending for Christmas...
From the Shop Floor: bookseller recommendations for Christmas
Babies to eight year olds edition. Avid book collectors know that some of the best informed opinions on books are found over the counter at your local bookstore, so we’ve asked Aotearoa’s specialist children’s booksellers what they’re recommending for Christmas...
Book Launch: Charlie Tangaroa and the God of War
Tania Roxborogh held launch events for the sequel to Charlie Tangaroa and the Creature from the Sea at Te Kura Toi Tangata in Hamilton on Thursday evening and Scorpio in Christchurch last night. In her launch speech she explained the...
Book List: Picture books as windows and mirrors to support children with disabilities
Pearl D’Silva shares some top tips for picture books around the themes of disability and inclusion, on International Day of Persons with Disabilities. International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) is celebrated on December 3 each year. There are over 1.1...
Disability Literati: on representation of disability in children’s books
Bee Trudgeon attended the ‘Disability Literati’ session at Verb Wellington, to learn more about how children and young people are portrayed in literature and a perceived historical tendency for disabled children to be treated as ‘life lessons, plucky objects of...
Monsters and Chaos Walking – thirty minutes with Patrick Ness
Patrick Ness, the revered author of the Chaos Walking trilogy, visited New Zealand last week for events at Verb Wellington and Auckland Writers Festival. Sarah Forster watched his Wellington events and spent thirty minutes having him sign her sizable collection...
A Stack of Librarians: the 2024 SLANZA conference
Librarian Jess Starr brings us highlights and insights from He Puāwaitanga—Growing Communities, Developing Knowledge and Building Confidence, the School Library Association’s 2024 conference. My tickets were booked, my cardigan was packed. I’d been practising my shushing all week and was...
A day in the life: Rebecca ter Borg
Illustrator Rebecca ter Borg recently collaborated on her first picture book, The Witch of Maketu, with Anika Moa. She shares a day in her life as a creative with blurred boundaries between work and life… I work from home in...
Quiz: 2024 Notable Books
The Storylines Notable Books for 2024 were announced this morning. Test your knowledge of all books notable here! Questions Answers Storylines Notable Books for 2024 Non-Fiction Dear Moko: Māori wisdom for our young ones, Dr Hinemoa Elder, Miriama Grace-Smith (PenguinRandom...
Takeaways from a Masterclass in Illustration
Drawing from the philosophical thoughts of children, letting illustration shape words and the life, hard work and love of an illustrator; Nelson-based illustrator Sabrina Malcolm reflects on meeting three international illustrators at their masterclass. This past September, the windows of...
From the Shop Floor: Tijori
Pearl D’Silva introduces us to Tijori, an online store that seeks to make books available for children of the Indian diaspora in Aotearoa. Tijori is a New Zealand online bookstore with a specially curated collection of board books, picture books,...
A Day in the Life: Dïne
Dïne is the illustrator of Saving Wānanga and other books. She is also a tattoo artist, paints murals and takes on freelance illustration jobs. In the latest in our occasional Day in the Life series, she takes us through a...
The Reckoning: The Science of Writing Science
Alistair Hughes searches for the formula for good science communication for kids. Ernest, Lord Rutherford is famously credited with proclaiming: ‘If you can’t explain your physics to a barmaid, it is probably not very good physics.’ These days hospitality workers...
The Sampling: The Gavin Bishop Treasury
By Gavin Bishop This month we bring you a Sampling of pages from a new hardback collection of ten classic Gavin Bishop stories. This new collection was released this week, and features four of his original stories and six of...
Interviews
Across the Ditch: Inda Ahmad Zahri
Australian author Inda Ahmad Zahri finds a moment between writing, illustrating, being a doctor, campaigning for social justice and parenting to answer some questions about what inspires her diverse work and just where she finds the time. Nida Fiazi (NF):...
Book People: Joy Sellen, Ace Administrator
In the first of an occasional series on the people ‘behind the scenes’ of the Aotearoa children’s lit scene, Jane Arthur speaks with Joy Sellen. Joy is the administrator of the NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults and...
Monsters and Chaos Walking – thirty minutes with Patrick Ness
Patrick Ness, the revered author of the Chaos Walking trilogy, visited New Zealand last week for events at Verb Wellington and Auckland Writers Festival. Sarah Forster watched his Wellington events and spent thirty minutes having him sign her sizable collection...
Interview: Nicola Daly on Indigenous Worldviews in Picture Books
Nicola Daly is what you’d call a children’s book buff. Officially a sociolinguist and senior lecturer at University of Waikato, she has committed her academic career to children’s literature and language learning. Her latest research looks at how Indigenous voices...
Interview: Ned Wenlock on his best first book award winning ‘Tsunami’
Eddie Monotone sits down with Ned Wenlock to talk about winning the NZSA Best First Book Award at the NZCYA Book Awards, his approach to visual storytelling, and how Tsunami marks a departure from his previous work. Eddie Monotone (EM):...
Interview: Steve Mushin on Ultrawild
Steve Mushin with his book, Ultrawild, was the winner of the best children’s non-fiction book at the NZCYA Awards in August. Ultrawild is an entertaining thought experiment around the concept of rewilding to save the planet. Linda Jane Keegan reviewed...
Interview: Dame Lisa Carrington and Scott Pearson
Award-winning author Maria Gill interviews Olympian Lisa Carrington and illustrator Scott Pearson about their new books Lisa Carrington Chases a Champion and Ko Lisa Carrington me te Toa Whakaihuwaka. I last interviewed Lisa Carrington for a children’s nonfiction book called...
Interview: Elizabeth Gray on the Whakapapa of Sound
A dream to hear the sound of taonga pūoro and te reo Māori normalised in households set Elizabeth Gray on a path to becoming a debut author. Elizabeth Gray (Ngāti Rēhia, Ngāti Uepōhatu, Tama Ūpoko ki te awa o Wanganui,...
Illustrator to Illustrator: Five Things I Wish I Could Ask Another Illustrator
Award-winning illustrator Hilary Jean Tapper illuminates the craft, quandaries and processes of creating children’s books with three visiting international illustrators. Picture book illustration is a small profession within New Zealand, with few opportunities to come together to celebrate and nurture our...
Interview: Rachel Lawson on Picture Me
Picture Me promises a vibrant cross-cultural celebration of illustration and identity for children and professional illustrators alike. The Sapling sat down with Gecko Press publisher, Rachel Lawson, to find out what the festival is all about. The Sapling (TS): During...
Interview: Kate Preece on Ten Nosey Weka
Carly Thomas talks with Ten Nosey Weka author Kate Preece about creating a picture book that’s part of the ta rē Moriori revival. A new children’s picture book by Kate Preece sits on the bookshop shelf alongside others. Its beautiful...
Interview: Stacy Gregg on Nine Girls
2024 judge of the NZCYA awards Belinda Whyte in conversation with Margaret Mahy Award winner Stacy Gregg. I’ll be honest with you, I had never read a Stacy Gregg novel before reading Nine Girls for the judging of the 2024...
Interview: Maia Bennett on judging the 2024 NZCYA awards
Convenor of the 2024 NZCYA Book Awards Maia Bennett takes The Sapling behind the scenes on selecting the cream of this year’s crop of books for children and young adults. On Wednesday evening the winners of the children’s and young...
For fox’s sake: An Interview With Juliette MacIver
Effervescent wordsmith Juliette MacIver has just released her new picture book, Little Axel’s Axolotl, a whimsical story about a very loved axolotl that dreams of adventure. In classic MacIver style, it is full of brilliant soundplay and interesting vocabulary, and...
Interview: Claire Mabey on The Raven’s Eye Runaways
Claire Mabey is one of the busiest people in Aotearoa literature: founder of the Verb festival, books editor at The Spinoff, and now novelist, with an outstanding debut, The Raven’s Eye Runaways. Thalia Kehoe Rowden had a thousand questions for...
Reviews
Review: The Mess of our Lives
Elizabeth Heritage reviews Mary-Anne Scott’s latest novel for teens. We have rats in our house but it’s on purpose, as pets. In The Mess of our Lives, the new YA novel by Mary-anne Scott, there are rats in the house...
Review: Into the Ice
Rebecca Priestley reviews a beautifully illustrated Antarctic miscellany. What’s your South Polar seadog name? I can’t decide whether mine is Phytoplankton Stinker or Aurora Moondog. Or perhaps it’s Snotsicle Albatross? No, I’ve got it—it’s Iceblink Stormcatcher. You can find your...
Reviews: Five fresh picture books
Briar Lawry reviews new books from some of the shining stars of Aotearoa kids lit, and Annelies Judson reviews a collaboration with Cleft New Zealand. The Witch of Maketu and the Bleating Lambs, by Anika Moa, illustrated by Rebecca ter...
Review: four recent picture books
Kay Benseman shares insights on picture books featuring library books, giants, new babies and crabs. But Then… The Almost True Story of an Overdue Book, by Swapna Haddow, illustrated by Daron Parton This ‘almost true story’ is hilarious and delightful....
Review: Three new wildlife titles
Annelies Judson reviews three picture books for older readers, and identifies a subgenre in NZ Kids Lit. I recently wrote a review where I talked about ‘Aotearoa Natural Disaster Animal Books’. Another strong subgenre in the Aotearoa children’s literature world...
Reviews: activity books for the holidays
Kay Benseman reviews new Kuwi and Friends titles to keep your kids occupied on your holiday road trips Rapua! I Spy: Kiwi Road Trip Games, by Kat Quin & Pānia Papa Kat Quin has again teamed up with Pānia Papa...
Reviews: New titles in two popular series
Fiona Giles reviews new junior fiction books from James Russell and Fraser Smith. Children of the Rush: Book 3, by James Russell This rip-roaring adventure had me glued to my seat as I devoured it in one sitting. Book three...
Review: Lisa Carrington Chases a Champion
Dame Lisa Carrington has released new picture books in te reo Māōri and te reo Pākehā that seek to inspire children to work hard to meet their goals. Tia Haira reviews the English edition here. This story is about the...
Te Arotakenga: Ko Lisa Carrington Me Te Toa Whakaihuwaka
Kua pāpāhotia a Dame Lisa Carrington ētahi pukapuka pikitia hou i roto i te reo Māori me te reo pākeha anō hoki hei whai, hei whakahihiko i ngā tamariki kia whakapau werawera kia tutuki i o rātou whāinga. Ānei te...
Review: New titles in two great local series
Cassie Hart reviews a new book in the Whetū Toa series and a sequel to Amorangi and Millie’s Trip Through Time. Whetū Toa and the Secret Spies, by Steph Matuku and illustrated by Katharine Hall (Huia Publishers) Steph Matuku manages...
Review: Three picture books with messages for their readers
Annelies Judson reviews three recent picture books designed to soothe and inspire young readers. The Lucky Little Pig, by Stacey Smith, illustrated by Deborah Hinde The Lucky Little Pig is another in an unofficial series of “Aotearoa Natural Disaster Animal...
Review: Three adventurous new graphic novels
Three new graphic novels that explore ideas of friendship and adventure. Duffy is determined to help a new friend who is being bullied, Miles and Jones need to save themselves, their parents and their park and Detective Beans is on...
Reviews: Bumper Batch of Nature Books
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: children’s publishing on Aotearoa’s natural world is flourishing. Linda Jane Keegan reviews a stack of the latest in wildlife books, including a healthy dose of bird books. She also highlights a...
Reviews: Two Middle-Grade Historic Narratives
Joanna Grochowicz adds another Antarctic exploration journey under her belt and Pauline Cartwright’s re-released story of the Otago goldfields is back with a fresh face. Denika Mead reviews. Mawson in Antarctica: To the Ends of the Earth, by Joanna Grochowicz...
Review: New YA from Mandy Hager—Gracehopper
Mandy Hager’s latest young adult novel is a family drama bringing together issues of care work, disability, and identity. Elizabeth Heritage reviews. Gracehopper is Mandy Hager’s new YA novel about Grace Murphy, a Taiwanese 18-year-old living in Wellington with her...
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