Author, publisher, and full-time feminist Deb Potter on how books can open up wonderful choices for young people – or not. I have more than one t-shirt with the word feminist on it. Reading the word, people in lifts, supermarkets…
Fifi Colston has come up with this smart, simple craft to complete with your little ones in the final few days leading up to Christmas, inspired by The Christmas Tree Tangle, by Margaret Mahy, illustrated by Sarah Davis. Keep your…
Sacha Cotter and Josh Morgan first came into the children’s picture book scene in 2014 with their books Keys and the te reo Māori version, Ngā Kī. This was followed two years later by The Marble Maker and Te Kaihanga…
Slowly but surely, New Zealand has built up its very own range of Christmas-themed Children’s literature. Sarah realised recently that she has most of these books at home. See how much you know about them! 1. Margaret Mahy’s The Christmas…
Today our special guest writer is the Prime Minister of New Zealand, the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern, who is also Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage. She tells us about her surprising reading journey as a child and teenager. My…
Poet and children’s bookseller Freya Daly Sadgrove is a strong believer in the power of the right book for the right person at the right time. Here, she writes about why (in her own words) ‘books are great as gifts…
Prue Langbein was a producer in the drama department of Radio New Zealand for 26 years. She began her work there as a story producer for the ground-breaking children’s show Ears. More recently, inspired by a trip to America on…
Founding Sapling editor, Jane, has been away from The Sapling for the past three months due to having a baby, Pete. Here she offers ten thoughts about books and reading in relation to hanging out with a new human every…
Our beloved illustrator Giselle Clarkson has fallen in love again… with another book! Scroll down to see her brilliant review of Impossible Inventions: Ideas that shouldn’t work by Matgorzata Mycielska, Aleksandra Mizielińska and Daniel Mizieliński (Gecko Press).
The lovely Mina Cucina is a terrible cook! Unfortunately the Great Bonbon Confectionation, which every person in the town must enter, is coming up, and she doesn’t know what to make. Luckily, her kitchen holds a secret. You know how toys come alive when you aren’t watching? In Mina’s kitchen, it’s the forgotten food from beneath the cooker and fridge.