Why do we love games? The high-octane fun? The easy access to discovery, adventure, challenge, and endless other draws? Sure. Yes to all of that. But the real kicker? It’s the infinite possibilities. The magical sandbox to play in. A…
We’re always trying to keep things fresh and interesting in our awards coverage, whether that’s remixing what we do with which category or coming up with something new altogether. For 2021’s Picture Book Award finalists, we decided to put the…
By Leonie Agnew Leonie Agnew is back with a magical new title, The Memory Thief, following the unexpectedly heartwarming friendship between Seth, lonely troll, and Stella, a young girl going through a hard time. Enjoy this excerpt from chapter one…
Every year, we pick one of the NZCYA Awards finalist categories to get a publisher perspective. This year, we came down ki te taha o ngā kaiwhakaputa ō ngā pukapuka kei roto ki te rōpū reo Māori—on the side of the…
Ruth McIntyre runs The Children’s Bookshop in Kilbirnie, and is in the process of selling it to a new loving owner. Sarah Forster went to talk to her one dreary Saturday, capturing memories of the past, and dreams for the…
Award winning writer Leonie Agnew is next up for our Mahy questionnaire. Her latest book The Memory Thief is out this month but it hasn’t stopped her finding the time to answer our questions! Read on, tricksters… 1. Describe yourself…
We at The Sapling always love a good behind-the-scenes look into our favourite books, and we know you do too! So, as part of our coverage of this year’s NZCYA Awards, we’ve asked the authors of the Elsie Locke for…
Don’t look away, can’t look away. Giselle Clarkson explores children’s books that she is ghoulishly drawn to.
Creating a picture book—whether it’s story or illustration or both—is a massive undertaking in its own right. Doing all that and taking the self-publishing route to bring it to fruition is a whole other quest. Hayley Elliott-Kernot takes us through…
This year we’re kicking off our NZCYA Awards coverage with the Russell Clark Award for Illustration finalists! We have some exclusive insights into the process of creating the illustrations for each book, including storyboards, mood boards, working sketches, hand cutting…