Of the hundreds of children’s books featuring our national bird, here are some all-stars that will help children and adults alike get to know these fascinating creatures better. One of my very favourite books when I was little – I…
Each of these three action-packed books has a great cast of characters, some daredevil heroes and is written for kids aged 7+. Sarah Forster found them to be page-turning fun. Lily Max: Sun, Surf, Sea, by Jane Bloomfield (Luncheon Sausage…
Every now and then I’m determined to broaden my teeteringly-high reading pile by adding in new genres. Build it out sideways for stronger integrity, perhaps. The YA I love tends to tell convincingly real stories of convincingly real teenagers, which…
Each of these three new non-fiction titles presents fascinating information in an engaging and imaginative way. Coincidentally, they all deal with themes of journeys and/or exploration. Gillian Candler wrote a Reckoning about factual books, while Maria Gill had some thoughts…
Ruby McDonald-Bridge and her daemon share their love of Philip Pullman’s new release La Belle Sauvage: The Book of Dust I, which is taking the world by storm. The Book of Dust Vol. 1: La Belle Sauvage – my hands,…
While most of our reviews are of NZ titles, occasionally we check out what is being hyped overseas. Each of these titles are the stars of Christmas for their publishers, and they share similarities in their London-ish setting, and their…
Look at all these new books! Today we review five new picture books and find that, as usual, there’s plenty of top-notch stuff being published in Aotearoa New Zealand for our tamariki. Two or three times on my first reading,…
If there is a trend right now in YA publishing, it has to be toward gritty teen drama, usually including the death of somebody close and plenty of angst. Beautiful Mess, by Claire Christian won the 2016 Text Prize, and…
The first Annual (Gecko Press) was one of the highlights of the Christmas offer in 2016. So it was with shaky hands and much excitement we accepted an early copy of Annual 2 from co-editor Susan Paris for review. This…
Incredible poet and children’s fiction writer James Norcliffe reviews two books by Gecko Press, translated from the Swedish. Soda Pop is a Swedish classic, first published in Swedish in 1970, and took Norcliffe back to his days listening to The…