Archives

2017 Christmas Shopping List: Junior Fiction

Do you want to be sure you’re getting top-shelf books for your favourite people this Christmas – or on any gift-giving occasion? We are making it easy for you! Here is our selection of the very best New Zealand books…

2017 Christmas Shopping List: Factual Books

Do you want to be sure you’re getting top-shelf books for your favourite people this Christmas – or on any gift-giving occasion? We are making it easy for you! Here is our selection of the very best New Zealand books…

THE SAMPLING: That Stubborn Seed of Hope

Brian Falkner’s short story collection contains stories which are heartbreaking, inspirational, and eye-opening. You view the world as a bully, a brother and sister, a dementia sufferer and a person living in the world which is in the grip of a deadly pandemic. Most of all, you view the world as the person telling the story.

2017 Christmas Shopping List: Best YA Books

Do you want to be sure you’re getting top-shelf books for your favourite people this Christmas – or on any gift-giving occasion? We are making it easy for you! Here is our selection of the very best New Zealand books…

Book Reviews: YA Fiction – Dark Spaces

Every now and then I’m determined to broaden my teeteringly-high reading pile by adding in new genres. Build it out sideways for stronger integrity, perhaps. The YA I love tends to tell convincingly real stories of convincingly real teenagers, which…

KA PAI! Cool stuff from around the internet

When we aren’t flat out at our day jobs we compile, for your browsing pleasure, cool children’s book happenings (and peripherally related news) from around Aotearoa, the world and the internet.   One Shot/PNZ/Visual Energy     Book news from…

Books my Kids Love: Kirsten McDougall

Author Kirsten McDougall has recently released her second novel, Tess (VUP), and will be appearing at Wellington LitCrawl this weekend. She has written for us about reading to her children. I love reading to my kids. There’s something really special…

The Sampling: The New Zealand Art Activity Book

The New Zealand Art Activity Book is a 158-page activity book for children who love to draw, paint and otherwise express themselves. These spreads are of works from WH Hammond, Sylvia Siddell and Kerry-Ann Lee. Te Papa Press has allowed us to include PDF activity pages for two of them, plus a list of questions to start your activities based on Kerry-Ann Lee’s gorgeous spread.

The Reckoning: Superstar needed, apply within

How do we raise the profile of New Zealand Children’s books? Donovan Bixley has been asking around, and he has an answer… of sorts. Whenever I’m at a children’s book event the question arises: how do we raise the profile…

Book Reviews: Journeys and Exploration

Each of these three new non-fiction titles presents fascinating information in an engaging and imaginative way. Coincidentally, they all deal with themes of journeys and/or exploration. Gillian Candler wrote a Reckoning about factual books, while Maria Gill had some thoughts…