Our biscuit & bird illustrator Giselle Clarkson has taken on her first *current* book review! Scroll down to get a brilliant perspective on How to Mend a Kea + Other Fabulous Fix-it Tales from Wildbase Hospital, by Janet Hunt (Massey…
When is it okay for creative people to draw on cultural traditions they’re not part of? Illustrator, writer and teacher Zak Waipara has some thoughts about cultural appropriation. When Neil Gaiman wrote in Stardust, ‘Without our stories we are incomplete,’…
Today Kura Rutherford introduces Dr Darryn Joseph (Ngāti Maniapoto), a writer, dad, illustrator, comic collector and Māori language lecturer. The recently appointed board member for Storylines has an extensive literary CV. He has published 23 books in te reo, he…
Waikato academic Nicola Daly introduces the New Zealand Pacific Picture Book Collection, and calls for more contributions to it. In 2012 I worked with nine librarians to create a list of picture books which told stories from and about Pacific…
Ruby McDonald-Bridge and her daemon share their love of Philip Pullman’s new release La Belle Sauvage: The Book of Dust I, which is taking the world by storm. The Book of Dust Vol. 1: La Belle Sauvage – my hands,…
Look at the Nielsen Bestsellers list each week, and you are certain to discover a whole range of books featuring kiwi. We are celebrating National Kiwi Month with this quiz, and next month will see our recommendations for the best…
Liz Donnelly was inspired by the radio plays of her childhood, and her son’s need for audio stimulation, to create a series of bilingual audio stories, starring Eardrop the rabbit. Here’s the inside scoop. ‘Radio plays’ used to be all…
While most of our reviews are of NZ titles, occasionally we check out what is being hyped overseas. Each of these titles are the stars of Christmas for their publishers, and they share similarities in their London-ish setting, and their…
New Zealand’s school librarians are passionate, engaged professionals who know how to get students of all ages and reading levels into reading. Greig Daniels is the Library Manager at Tokomairiro High School Library, in Otago. I’m currently the librarian at…
Children’s comics embrace all the possibilities inherent in good fiction. They are original, compelling and relevant, but also of increased importance for reluctant readers, and those who value the written word and illustration. Here, Monty Masseurs and Nicola Crombie from…