Amy Haarhoff won the 2019 Storylines Gavin Bishop Award, and The Midnight Adventures of Ruru and Kiwi was published in April 2020. Her illustration hero is Quentin Blake, and thinks his collaboration with Roald Dahl ‘was probably one of the…
Our next top bookseller picks comes from the delightful little corner of Nelson that is VOLUME. Stella Chrysostomou and Thomas Koed have picked out a few favourite titles for a range of ages that speak to the idea of being…
Giselle has visited the theme of anthropomorphism in her comics in the past—remember birds with arms?—but recently she has been pondering the scale of it all. Why is it that sometimes dogs are dogs, and sometimes bears are…well… lets find…
You know it, you love it – it’s the Mahy Questionnaire! This month we are featuring award-winning author Melinda Szymanik. Read on to find out her takes on information bombs, babysitting shadows, and brownie-green coloured cars named ‘Poopalata’. 1. Describe…
In the last couple of months, we have seen the effects of COVID-19 wreak havoc worldwide. The mental health of both children and adults has been badly affected as we learn to cope with ‘the new normal’. One positive thing…
Jackie Clark is a woman who gets stuff done. She may be familiar to readers of The Sapling as the founder of The Aunties, a charitable organisation providing material and emotional resources to vulnerable people, around 500 whānau a year,…
This year’s NZCYA Awards coverage kicks off with the Russell Clark Award for Illustration Award finalists! We have some exclusive insights into the process of illustrating each book, including working sketches, storyboards, decadent interior spreads, and even a photograph of…
Hannah Benbow is the comics and cartoons librarian at the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington – and she draws on that expertise in this essay looking into the early days of comics in the ‘children’s pages’ of Aotearoa newspapers of…
The annual New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults are a highly anticipated part of the Aotearoa literary calendar, for folks of all ages who have a passion for books for young people. They acknowledge excellence in writing,…
Here’s a fresh instalment of the Margaret Mahy Questionnaire, featuring author-illustrator Kat Quin. Read on for her takes on changeovers, rattlebang cars and sonsense nongs! 1. Describe yourself in three words I’m still learning. 2. During the height of adolescence,…