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…
The Giselle Clarkson Comic: Number 44
Fresh from the Observologist’s win at the PANZ Books Design Awards, Giselle Clarkson shares a peek at the process of book publishing.
From the Shop Floor: Pictura Children’s Book Shop
Jo Pearson welcomes us inside Pictura Children’s Book Shop, where she sells hand-picked illustrated books for children. Pictura opened in early 2022 in the wee harbour town of Port Chalmers, 15 minutes or so from Dunedin city centre. I have…
Three Pieces of Advice from Joy Cowley
Claudia Palmer attends the launch of Joy Cowley’s latest book A Lot of Silly. I didn’t follow Joy Cowley’s advice when I sat down to write this piece. Her number one tip is: don’t start with a title: write the…
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):…
Regular Features
Features
Three Pieces of Advice from Joy Cowley
Claudia Palmer attends the launch of Joy Cowley’s latest book A Lot of Silly. I didn’t follow Joy Cowley’s advice when I sat down to write this piece. Her number one tip is: don’t start with a title: write the...
The Whitcoulls Kids’ Top 50 Books
The Whitcoulls Kids’ Top 50 Books list for 2024/2025 was announced this morning. The Sapling’s Harriet Elworthy looks into the mechanisms of this influential poll. The Whitcoulls Kids’ Top 50 Books list has been running for 27 years. The list is...
Photos from the Picture Me window painting
During Gecko Press’s Picture Me festival, European illustrators Antje Damm, Aurore Petit and Piotr Socha will be painting a window at Te Auaha Gallery in central Wellington. We’ll be posting updates as the mural progresses. Thursday 12 September The first...
A selection of poems for National Poetry Day
Paula Green shares eight poems for children from Roar Squeak Purr: A Treasury of New Zealand Animal Poems. In 2013, I launched Poetry Box, an online poetry page for children in Aotearoa. I wanted to create a meeting place for...
Books Alive: a scene report from Books Alive 2024
Annelies Judson explores the Wellington edition of Books Alive, the schools programme that accompanies the NZCYA awards. It’s a beautiful morning in the capital and lines of children, like wriggling eels, are making their way into the National Library. Once...
The Winners of the 2024 NZCYA awards are…
Fresh off the ceremony at Pipitea Marae, Wellington, the winners of the 2024 NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults are… The Margaret Mahy Book of the Year and the Junior Fiction Award: Nine Girls by Stacy Gregg (Ngāti...
The Reckoning: Inviting an Author or Illustrator to Speak? What you need to know
There is something very special about having your favourite book creator come and talk at your school, or meeting a new author or illustrator who shares their stories and makes you laugh. They are definitely favourites at schools and libraries,...
The Sampling: 17 Kings and 42 Elephants
Illustrated by Alba Gil Cedrán This month’s Sampling is from last year’s winner of the Margaret Mahy Illustration Prize, Alba Gil Cedrán, in a re-imagining of Mahy’s 17 Kings and 42 Elephants. The shortlist for this year’s award will be...
Quiz: All Things NZCYA
In honour of the shortlist announcement for this year’s NZCYA Awards, this quiz is about all things NZCYA related! How much do you know about the Awards of past and present? Check out our coverage of the award finalists here....
From the Shop Floor: Mr Feather’s Den
Susan Ryan from a second-hand store of books and oddities in Featherston tells about their collection, challenges, and the value of a special find. Mr Feather’s Den started trading in December 2012, on State Highway 2 in Featherston. From the...
The Reckoning: Flagging Rainbow Storytime
Last month drag performers Coco and Erika Flash took Brian Tamaki to court over his protests and public comments against rainbow storytimes which caused them to cancel their storytime tours. Education researcher Kate Morgan writes about the importance of children...
NZCYA 2024 Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award For Junior Fiction Finalists
When reading our Junior Fiction finalists, Sarah Forster was blown away as always by the brilliance of Aotearoa’s authors that write for this audience. She asked each of the five authors to answer five probing questions, including a well-disguised version...
2024 PANZ Book Design Award Finalists: Children’s Books
It’s time to celebrate an oft overlooked aspect of book creation—the design. The Publishers Association of New Zealand has just announced the shortlist for Aotearoa’s best-designed books in nine categories. Here we are showcasing the three which focus on books...
The Mahy Questionnaire: Mandy Hager
You know it, you love it—it’s the Mahy Questionnaire! This month we are featuring former educator turned multi award-winning author Mandy Hager! She tells us all about recurring newborn nightmares, sweet-talking cars and desiccated skinks, among other things. Her latest...
2024 NZCYA Best First Book Finalists
We’ve prepared something special this year to honour the Best First Book Finalists. Michael Park School librarian Kura Rutherford corralled her student librarians into considering the shortlist and awarding their own medals for merits they deemed worthy. See the list...
Interviews
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...
Interview: Jane Arthur on Brown Bird
The intimidatingly-talented author of two acclaimed poetry collections, owner of the best fringe in New Zealand lit, and all round book-ish Good Sort sat down with Rachael King to talk about making the leap from poetry to kidlit and the...
Interview: Bringing the shadow of Tūmatauenga into the light
Following yesterday’s review of Te Ata o Tū | The Shadow of Tūmatauenga (Te Papa Press), Frank Wilson had several conversations with three of its writers—all Te Papa curators—about the creation of the book and how they hope it will...
Pasifika Book Hub: Connecting to tagata o le moana stories
More and more creators are turning to independent publishing to get their stories out into the world. Owner of Mila’s Books Dahlia Malaeulu tells us about the new Pasifika Book Hub which aims to support tagata o le moana in...
Q&A: Pukapuka Adventures at Auckland Writers Festival
The 2024 Auckland Writers Festival is coming up in a week with events taking place from 14 – 19 May. We asked the children’s events programmer Gabrielle Vincent about what’s going on for kids at the festival, and especially about...
Reviews
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...
Reviews: Pasifika Picture Books
Mele Tonga-Grant reviews three fantastic Pacific themed titles. They are a love letter to our future, Matariki in a Sāmoan context, and a celebration of our differences. Gagana Sāmoa is sprinkled throughout two of the books and the third is...
Review: Aotearoa YA that rivals The Hunger Games
Steph Matuku’s latest YA novel grapples with themes of enforced migration, loss, societal expectations, and coloniser violence. Ceridwyn Roberts describes it as ‘unputdownable’, a match for The Hunger Games, and better than other series. I always hesitate to call a...
Reviews: Five Fresh Picture Books
Tia Haira reviews a varied selection of picture books, covering te ao Māori, an auto-driver in Chennai, manatee antics, experiencing eczema, and the joy of being yourself. Because I’m Māori | He Māori Ahau, by Nicolla Hemi-Morehouse, illustrated by Story...
Reviews: Two New Junior Fiction Titles
Leila Austin joins two cousins with magical powers and their nana on their latest adventures dealing with floods, giant crabs and a furious fire goddess. Pipi and Pou and the Waves of Destruction (Pipi and Pou #5) and Pipi and...
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