In the current Anglo-Saxon book market, there is much that is the same. If one book is successful, there’s a flurry to find another one just like it. Sameness can make us all feel safe, but Julia Marshall from Gecko…
For the final part of our finalist coverage of this year’s NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, we have quite the treat for you: excerpts of the five Picture Book Award finalists! Here are the first few pages…
Founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards and writer at Crime Watch, Craig Sisterson, shares what he and his two-year-old daughter Madi have been reading lately. Story time is one of my favourite times with Madi, our two-and-a-half year old. ‘Again,…
Nina Powles remembers how it felt to discover Mulan, a Chinese ‘warrior princess’, as a child, and looks into other stories of woman warriors in China and how their stories still resonate today. 1. Learn how to cut your own…
An excerpt from Gareth Ward’s debut steampunk adventure novel and winner of the 2016 Storylines Tessa Duder Award, The Traitor and the Thief. Orphan, urchin and thief, Sin, has just been chased through the streets of Coxford by a sinister old man, Eldritch … Secrets, spies and steampunk gadgets abound in this fantastic adventure story!
‘Self-published’ is not a word I use proudly when referring to my work. Independently produced books are – still – frequently seen as inferior to those that are traditionally published. But the number of my self-published colleagues who are creating…
Illustrator Giselle Clarkson shows us how books can be read differently each time … and why sometimes this is advised.
Award-winning illustrators Ali Teo and John O’Reilly have been working together for over 15 years, having illustrated many picture books. Their most recent collaboration has been on Sarah Grundy’s debut picture book, The Curious Ar-Chew. The Curious Ar-Chew won the…
Every two weeks we compile, for your browsing pleasure, cool children’s book happenings (and peripherally related news) from around Aotearoa, the world and the internet. Book news from Aotearoa In events, The Hungry Little Caterpillar comes to the stage! And…
How well do you know classic New Zealand children’s novels? Do you think you could recognise them from their first sentences? Have a go! Answers are at the bottom of the page. 1. ‘When, suddenly, on an ordinary Wednesday, it…