From the author of the highly acclaimed Into the White, Amundsen’s Way: The Race to the South Pole (Allen & Unwin) is the gripping tale of the Norwegian explorer’s courage, determination and ruthlessness in the race to the South Pole.
Writer Steph Matuku reviews two new books for teenagers. Tina Shaw’s manuscript for Ursa won the Storylines Tessa Duder Award for YA Manuscript, and A Place of Stone and Darkness is Chris Mousdale’s first full-length novel. Ursa, by Tina Shaw…
ECE teacher Sara Croft reviews three books for younger readers, two that use humour to engage young readers, and a third which is a gentle introduction to longer storytelling. Encyclopedia of Grannies, by Eric Veillé (Gecko Press) Eric Veillé has…
Kristy Wilson has been the School Librarian for Decile 1 Porirua College, three days a week for the past four years. More recently, she has added work at the Decile 10 Adventure School, 10 hours a week. I work 18…
We are pleased to present a regular series highlighting the work, expertise and enthusiasm of some of the greatest children’s booksellers of New Zealand. Here’s Books for Kids in Hamilton. This delightful little independent children’s boutique bookshop humbly began 48…
Many of the awards for children’s literature in New Zealand (bestowed by either Storylines or the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults) are named after important people. Illustrator Giselle Clarkson has researched these award namesakes, made short…
Jane Arthur reviews an enlightening new book celebrating eight New Zealand writers. Here We Are, Read Us: Women, Disability and Writing is a must-have for every school library and classroom, and there’s no excuses: the book is free! This little…
The Sapling had been thinking for some time about how best to honour the late, great Margaret Mahy. Suddenly it hit us: A Questionnaire, along the lines of the NZ Book Council’s Mansfield Questionnaire, and the Proust Questionnaire. So we…
‘What’s very clear is that the author is writing what she knows, that this place is in her bones.’ Catherine Woulfe devours, reviews and raves about the Sāmoan teen romance trilogy, Telesā by Lani Wendt Young (OneTree House). On the…
Illustrating a picture book is not a simple A-to-B process. Minky Stapleton (the illustrator of Linda Jane Keegan’s Things in the Sea are Touching Me and June Pitman-Hayes’ Kia Ora! You Can Be a Kiwi Too, both published by Scholastic)…