Features

The Mahy Questionnaire: Gareth Ward

For the third instalment of our shiny new Mahy Questionnaire, we thought we had better select an author who has a career in books in common with Mahy. Gareth Ward aka. The Great Wardini of Wardini Books also has a…

Book Awards: Best First Book Authors Reflect

This year’s NZCYA Awards coverage kicks off with the Best First Book finalists! We asked them to tell us, in their own words and with their own spin, about a book that was integral to their childhoods. Here’s what they…

The Story of My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes

One of the biggest-selling and most-loved children’s picture books in New Zealand is undoubtedly My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes by Eve Sutton and Lynley Dodd. Sarah Lin Wilson looked into the story behind the story. There were two…

THE SAMPLING: Bonjour Lucy Bee

Bonjour Lucy Bee is a fast-paced holiday adventure novel. Lucy Bee is on a family reunion holiday in France when she finds an injured boy behind a bush.

The finalists of the NZ kids’ book awards are…

The New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults are a core part of the Aotearoa literary calendar, for young people and adults alike. They acknowledge excellence in writing, illustration and publishing, and provide a vital platform to celebrate…

How to Capture an Audience (Kiwi-style)

In April, Ruth Paul and Juliette MacIver took their Kiwi author-illustrator talents over to the United Arab Emirates – more specifically, to the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival. Ruth kindly shed some light on the experience for our readers. I couldn’t…

The Reckoning: Redefining hero-worship

Joanna Grochowicz’s second Antarctica-focused non-fiction book for young people has recently been released, and in this installment of The Reckoning, Joanna gives her take on hero-worship, using the protagonist of her new book – Roald Amundsen – to illustrate her…

The Mahy Questionnaire: Sally Sutton

For the second instalment of our shiny new Mahy Questionnaire, we thought we had better select an author who we knew would construct some brilliant answers. So we went to none other than famed Roadworks author Sally Sutton. Sally’s latest…

Picture Books for Resilience and Persistence

Helping children deal with obstacles and setbacks is a core part of parenting and teaching. Today education lecturer and writer Frank Wilson suggests some picture books that can help model these skills – while also being fantastic reads. If you…

Don McGlashan: Books of my Childhood

Don McGlashan’s love of words and ideas is evident in all his music. Today he tells us about throwing a picture book at the wall, wagging school for novel-reading, and the other ways books have formed him as a reader…