Should children be persuaded to read critically-acclaimed and classic books? Today Steph Matuku, an award-winning writer and mother from Taranaki, puts up her case for convincing kids to broaden their literary horizons, and shares how she’s tackling the challenge of…
We have a delightful installment of our Day In the Life of an Illustrator feature today—with someone more used to gallery walls than pages of a book. But being new to the world of art on the page doesn’t make…
Our resident illustrator extraordinaire Giselle Clarkson takes us on an epic tour of some fabulous local bookish monuments – including a few that aren’t explicitly book related, but could be with a little rebranding!
Our relationship with children’s books evolves as we grow older, becoming parents or aunties and uncles or just willing readers to friends’ tamariki. But as Philippa Werry has found, there’s another shift that takes place when one takes up the…
The jump from kindy, kōhanga, daycare, or home to SCHOOL can be quite a leap. Former Sapling co-editor, and mother of two kids who have started school in recent memory, Thalia Kehoe Rowden, has read a hundred First-Day-of-School books and…
Discussion of self isolation and social distancing and mask wearing may all feel very 2020s – but for those not in the know, two titles from Aotearoa sitting on shelves with shiny new covers are not, in fact, products of…
Here’s a fresh bit of your Margaret Mahy Questionnaire goodness, featuring award-winning novelist, short story, and flash fiction writer Eileen Merriman! Read on to find out her takes on shadow-sitting, barefoot beach walks, and pleasant-smelling, elegant giraffes. And when you’re…
Welcome back to another Sapling quiz! This month’s quiz blends current releases with a healthy dash of Aotearoa children’s book history knowledge. Enjoy! Test yourself, share with a friend, and let us know on Facebook or Twitter how you do!…
How does a bookish child develop a love of reading in a household with few books? Libraries of course! Kelly Gardiner writes about the books from her childhood that inspired a love of reading and shaped her own writing. I…
Last weekend, Tara Black attended a masterclass on how to create a picture book, led by Joy Cowley. This was a fundraiser for Featherston Booktown, which Joy is the patron of. This is presented in graphic format, but with a…