Crafts with Fifi: Make a glowing Jellyfish
I am Jellyfish by Ruth Paul (Puffin) is a charming story about a jellyfish who is driven to the depths of the deep blue ocean by swordfish – while she is there, she works out her true purpose. Keep your…
Features
Patchwork walls: building, empathy & stacking wood
Hawkes Bay writer and librarian Kura Rutherford reflects on her life-less-ordinary childhood and the importance of finding the familiar in books. ‘A wagon track ran before the house, turning and twisting out of sight in the woods where the animals…
Book Reviews: Quirky, Cool Picture Books
Volume Books in Nelson have a smartly curated range of children’s books that catch the eye. They chose five of their summer favourites to review for The Sapling. Witchfairy and One House for All are from Book Island, and we…
The Giselle Clarkson Comic: Number 11
Poor Giselle. Our illustrator recently decided to look into the story behind another intriguing classic children’s book (remember what happened with The Tiger Who Came to Tea?). Here, she shares her discoveries on Margaret Wise Brown and a whoooooole lot…
THE SAMPLING: Rosie Joy—Here, There And Everywhere
It’s spring on the farm and springtime is always busy at Rosie Joy’s. There are crops to plant and baby lambs everywhere. Rosie Joy and her best friend Polly take on a special spring project involving chickens, peggy squares, famous explorers and some pretty big words!
Writer Interview: Eileen Merriman and Ella West
Eileen Merriman’s and Ella West’s latest books were on the bookshop shelves as we headed to the beach this summer. Catch Me When You Fall is for older teens, and is about 17-year-old Alex in Christchurch who is fighting leukaemia…
Book Quiz: Sunny, Rainy, Windy, Snowy Weather
Weather. We can’t avoid it. And right now, after six weeks of glorious warm weather that we never complained about, no siree Bob no complaining here, Tāwhirimātea has woken and is wreaking havoc. Let’s see what we all know about…
Guyon Espiner: The Books I Read with my Child
Babies don’t come with manuals, or book lists. Today journalist and broadcaster Guyon Espiner recounts how he and his daughter have discovered zen pandas and Roborovski hamsters along their bilingual reading journey. My reading life with Nico began the day…
Book List: Resilient Families and Young People
We were fascinated to discover recently that the Australian Association of Family Therapy announces its own Family Book Awards. Thalia Kehoe Rowden finds out more from Margaret Hodge, one of the therapists who chose this year’s winners. It’s probably not…
The Reckoning: Disturbing Reading
Should children be exposed to books about slavery, racism and violence? Today Sisilia Eteuati, an Auckland writer, lawyer and mother, gives us her very good reasons for putting serious subject matter on her children’s bookshelves. On the eve of my…