Reviews

Book Reviews: Five NZ Picture Books

It’s all things animals in five recent NZ picture books – from monsters to dinosaurs to (toy) dogs and more. Thalia Kehoe Rowden gives us the lowdown in this batch of reviews. The Grizzled Grist Does Not Exist! by Juliette…

Book Reviews: Five Aotearoa Non-Fiction Books

The environment, conservation, and an Olympic athlete feature in five of Aotearoa’s newest non-fiction books, as lead editor Linda Jane Keegan tells us in this latest batch of reviews. Sylvia and the Birds by Johanna Emeney and Sarah Laing Sylvia…

Book Reviews: Three Junior Fiction Annuals

Founding editor Sarah Forster talks all things aeroplanes, albatrosses, creepy dolls and more in Aotearoa’s latest offering of junior fiction annuals. Annual 3, edited by Susan Paris and Kate De Goldi On opening Annual 3, I was impressed by the…

Book Reviews: Five Aotearoa Picture Books

Our first post-hiatus batch of reviews comes from Kay Benseman, with her incredibly thorough insights into books with questions, laughs, things to look for, local history and some sticky situations. Jiffy’s Greatest Hits by Catherine Chidgey and illustrated by Astrid…

LONG LIVE AOTEAROA’S CHILDREN’S BOOKS

The Sapling is dead, long live The Sapling. Just kidding. The Sapling is most certainly not dead—but we have run out of puff, and we are taking a break. In case you aren’t subscribed to our email, here’s a bit…

Alan Dingley ON BEING A BOOK AWARDS JUDGE – TWICE

Alan Dingley is a Librarian at Palmerston North Intermediate Normal School, former Youth Librarian at Palmerston North City Library’s Youth Space, a presenter of talks and workshops on children’s literature and readers advisory, an award-winning theatre sports extraordinaire, and a…

An Ode (In Prose) To Skinny Dip

Despite the number of world-class poets here in Aotearoa, it’s rare that a collection of contemporary poetry is published by a New Zealand publisher. Briar Lawry could not love it more. In the late single digits, something happens to approximately…

Co-Interview: Saradha Koirala and Gareth Ward

Saradha Koirala and Gareth Ward recently wrote sequels to YA books. While it was Gareth’s second time writing a sequel, it was Saradha’s first, so we thought we’d get them to have a talk about how you know your story…

Day In the Life of an Illustrator: Phoebe Morris

Join Phoebe Morris, illustrator of The Adventures of Mittens: Wellington’s Famous Purr-sonality for our Day in the Life feature. Between dodging parking wardens, agonising over crocs or topping up on coffee Phoebe gets down to the business of meeting the…

Book Reviews: New Young Adult Fiction From Aotearoa

Gem Wilder reviews some out of this world young adult fiction. There’s danger, magic, psychic abilities and love; whether you want hold your breathe adventure or clutch your heart romance, we’ve got your back. Tim Te Maro and te Subterranean…