It’s Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa / Samoan Language Week! Sisilia Etuati reviews three recent picture books that incorporate Samoan stories and culture and are great for reading in Samoan with your kids. The struggle is real when you are…
Dementia is a heart-breaking condition that many families have to struggle with. Children’s librarian Bee Trudgeon puts together a list of books that can help our tamariki understand and manage being around someone with dementia. I recently came across a…
Sapling editor Hannah Marshall tapped into her inner journalist to attend the Featherston Booktown festival earlier this month. Her findings are reported here (spoiler: she loved every minute of it). On any ordinary day, the small southern Wairarapa town of…
Emmaline Pickering-Martin reviews three new Pasifika non-fiction books with important messages to share—from a student-written poetry collection to a wellbeing journal to a collection of personal narratives about autism, all told through a Pacific lens. Pasifika Navigators: Pasifika Student Poetry…
By Feana Tuʻakoi Check out the opening chapter of Leana Tuʻakoi’s latest junior fiction novel, Lopini the Legend. It was awarded a 2023 Storylines Notable Book, and forms part of our 2023-24 Summer Excerpt Series. Chapter 1: Taha “Ugh!” yelled…
In our second instalment for NZSL Week, parent of a Deaf child and NZSL interpreter Jennie Yang goes through their tips on reading and storytelling with their child. See our first piece on storytelling in sign here. We started our…
Hope Lenzen reviews four new Aotearoa picture books on a variety of topics. They include a story based on the real life of a suburban sheep, two non-fiction reads to help kids understand big emotions and body safety, and a…
This week is NZSL or New Zealand Sign Language Week. Many of the books for young children featuring signed languages or Deaf characters or by Deaf authors – though much loved – do come to us from overseas. So to celebrate…
Three new picture books reviewed by Linda Jane Keegan cover fitting in, farts, and science. The illustrations in each are wonderful and totally different from one another, and they will have you searching, laughing (or eye-rolling, depending on your tastes),…
Achieving international rights is the ultimate dream for any writer. However, in New Zealand, achieving that dream is almost impossible. Author Melinda Szymanik looks at why international rights are so elusive in Aotearoa, and what opportunities our authors miss out…