Features

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…

THE SAMPLING: Dinosaur Trouble: The Runaway Coat

The Runaway Coat is Book 3 of the brand new hilarious junior fiction series from the creators of the bestselling Dinosaur Rescue. Mewburn and Bixley have teamed up to create a revolting, funny series for younger readers – prequels to the Dinosaur Rescue books.

THE SAMPLING: Taupo Blows!

Rachel and Sam are at home alone with their dog Choky when the biggest volcano on New Zealand’s Volcanic Plateau erupts without warning. With the roads destroyed by the earthquakes that follow, and the lake deadly, there is no way to escape.

THE SAMPLING: Into the White

The enthralling and harrowing true story of Robert Falcon Scott’s ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, with evocative photographs, and illustrations by Sarah Lippett. Together, they have taken on the greatest march ever made and come very near to great success; never giving up, and never giving up on each other.

THE SAMPLING: One House for All & Witchfairy

Book Island began here in New Zealand, but is now based in Bristol in the UK. These two books are focused on how to embrace difference. One House for All explains how three very different friends discover how best to build a house they can all live in.

THE SAMPLING: Rain Fall

Fifteen-year-old Annie needs to get to her basketball match, but the police have cordoned off her road. Is her neighbour, who she grew up with, still alive? What has he done to have the police after him? A murder investigation brings new people to Annie’s wild West Coast town, including a dark-haired boy riding the most amazing horse she has ever seen.