Features

School Librarian of Aotearoa: Jude Armstrong

For our latest School Librarian of Aotearoa feature, we hear from Kowhai Intermediate’s Jude Armstrong, who shares the ins and outs of creating a welcoming environment for all types of readers, engaging staff in library activities and plenty more besides….

Be Prepared: An All-Age Disaster Book List

Children and young adults in Aotearoa are particularly attuned to natural disasters. In today’s book list, Miriam Hurst delves into disaster literature from here and other shaky, volatile places around our world. Then Snufkin said slowly: “It would be awful…

Book List: Verse Novels for Children and YA

Verse novels have been around for a number of years now and while they may never flood the market, their appeal is growing and becoming more and more a part of mainstream young adult literature. Desna Wallace introduces us to…

The Mahy Questionnaire: Helen V. Fletcher

Here’s a fresh instalment of the Margaret Mahy Questionnaire, featuring author, playwright, poet and creative writing tutor Helen Vivienne Fletcher! Read on for her takes on discombobulation, changeovers and sonsense nongs! 1. Describe yourself in three words Breathing. Persevering. Laughing….

Book Quiz: Do You Know Your Te Reo Māori Titles?

How’s your reo Māori looking? Can you pick which is MEKA (true) and which is TEKA (false) when figuring out the correct translation of a title? Test yourself, share with a friend, and let us know on Facebook or Twitter…

THE SAMPLING: Awa and the Dreamrealm

Some mysterious middle-grade reading for you today, in the form of a new Sampling! Here’s the prologue and first two chapters of Isa Pearl Ritchie’s first book for young people, Awa and the Dreamrealm.

Illustrating a Classic with Sarah Greig

Earlier this year, Hachette New Zealand ran a unique competition: seeking new illustration concepts for Margaret Mahy’s classic The Boy With Two Shadows. The competition was open to artists and illustrated who were not yet published – and the winner…

The Mahy Questionnaire: Tim Tipene

The latest addition to our growing collection of Margaret Mahy Questionnaire responses comes from the amazing Tim Tipene! Tim has written a deeply thought-provoking Reckoning for us in the past – as well as an ever-growing number of his own…

Giselle Clarkson & Sarah Laing: A comic interview

We love comics, and we love the artists behind them! So for this month’s Giselle Clarkson comic, we have something a little different for you: an illustrated interview! Sarah Laing – author/artist/designer extraordinaire – has a new book out with…

The case for quitting social media

Love it or hate it, social media is a part of our life. But does an author really need it? Elissa Weismann swore off Facebook and Twitter at the start of this year, and it has given her pause to…