The Sapling

Hilarious picture books: The funny pages

There are some hilarious picture books out for the Christmas market this year, so we thought we might give you a chuckle with some of the funny pages. We have spreads of Stink-o-Saurus, by Deano Yipadee and Paul Beavis (Scholastic…

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…

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.

Book Quiz: Kiwi, our favourite flightless bird

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…

The Sampling: How Not to Stop a Kidnap Plot

An excerpt from Suzanne Main’s How Not to Stop a Kidnap Plot, a Junior Fiction novel that tells the tale of how Michael’s desire to get revenge on rich kid bully Angus backfires. Chapter 3 recounts the germination of a plan, and the introduction of the marvellous Miss Munro.

Book Quiz: The change of the seasons

We may not yet have reached the Season of the Age of Aquarius, but it certainly appears to be Spring right now, and we figure sooner or later Summer will reach our fair shores. Lets do a quiz to celebrate!…

The Books That Formed My Childhood

The follow-up to the award-winning Annual is out this month, ready to be part of the formative childhood reading of a new generation of Kiwi kids. We reviewed it last week, but we have also asked a few of the…