Each year, the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults make for a massive occasion in the Aotearoa kids’ book world—move over Oscars, out of the way Silver Scrolls. This is our night. It’s my first year covering the NZCYA…
It feels like everywhere we look, Isobel Joy Te Aho-White’s illustrations are gracing the covers and insides of some of New Zealand’s best picture books. By our count, she illustrated at least 13 books released in the last 18 months….
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…
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…
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…
Vanessa Hatley-Owen is a librarian at Botany Downs Primary School, Auckland. Here, she tells us about the best aspects of her job, what challenges she’s come up against, and about her own book! Tell us about where you work and…
Leela Chakraborti (11) and Rajorshi Chakraborti are the daughter and dad co-authors of The Bad Smell Hotel, published by The Cuba Press. Rajorshi is the author of five novels and a short fiction collection for adults, and a young adult…
Beloved writer James Norcliffe is the well-deserving winner of the 2023 Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal. Ruth Agnew, with the help of students Wills and Rose, shows us the power of Norcliffe’s writing to dazzle and inspire the next generation of…
Robin Hyde (pen name for Iris Wilkinson), one of New Zealand’s best poets, novelists and journalists, is widely praised for her wit, compassion, and imagery, as well as for the power and emotional accuracy of her writing. She is credited…
Diane Street is one of two school librarians at Collingwood Area School. She gives us a brief history of Collingwood and its early schools before diving into her experiences of working in an area school library. I want to preface…