Features

THE SAMPLING: Go Girl!

Go Girl: A Storybook of Epic NZ Women by Barbara Else is a collection of inspiring true stories about New Zealand women who have done extraordinary things. There’s Dame Whina Cooper, Janet Frame, Farah Palmer, Lucy Lawless, Kate Sheppard, Nancy Wake, Sophie Pascoe, Margaret Mahy, Lydia Ko, Merata Mita, Rita Angus, Te Puea Herangi — and many more.

A Day in the Life of Illustrator Xoë Hall

Artist Xoë Hall is living her best life! As part of the TeacherTalk team, she creates learning resources for Early Childhood Education teachers, including a striking new book, Hineahuone/The Clay Woman. Today she tells us what a normal day of…

The Giselle Clarkson Comic: Number 12

Our illustrator looks into the notion that children’s book writers and illustrators are all eccentric. Is there any truth in it? And where does Giselle fit in? Read on, dear reader …

Why Go Girl needed to be written

New Zealand’s answer to Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls is in bookshops now. It’s called Go Girl: A Storybook of Epic NZ Women (Penguin Random House NZ), and it’s written by the multi-award-winning Barbara Else. We asked Barbara to tell…

A Day in the Life of Fraser Williamson

Fraser Williamson is a freelance artist and illustrator, whose works are frequently seen in books, early readers, magazines and art galleries. We asked him to outline a day in his life, to celebrate the publication next month of the third…

THE SAMPLING: Dawn Raid

Dawn Raid is the 28th book in Scholastic NZ’s ‘My New Zealand Story’ series, which brings to life significant events in our history as seen through the eyes of fictitious child diarists.

Book List: Books for young makers and coders

Auckland bookshop Time Out Bookstore helped us compile this book list for those kids in your life who’re the inventors of the next robot-dog, Facebook or Golden Gate Bridge. Here are 15 books for young makers, coders and engineers! How…

Quiz: Children’s books from page to screen

The riches found in Best Adapted Screenplay Awards each year are proof that many books make good movies – but how much do you know about our own children’s books on screen? 1. Which movie of a Margaret Mahy book…

The finishing touch(es): Fleur Beale on editing

Fleur Beale has written over 50 books for children and teens. Her latest novel is Lyla. Here, she lets us in on the amount of time and work that goes into writing, and explains the importance of the editing process…

Read it in the stars: OneTree House

OneTree House directors Jenny Nagle and Christine Dale, who have 43 titles lined up for the new publishing house’s first year, talk to Mākaro Press publisher Mary McCallum as their first books hit the bookshops. With 43 titles lined up…