Animals

Reviews: Bumper Batch of Nature Books

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: children’s publishing on Aotearoa’s natural world is flourishing. Linda Jane Keegan reviews a stack of the latest in wildlife books, including a healthy dose of bird books. She also highlights a…

Reviews: Four Picture Books

School librarian Zac McCallum reads and reviews four recent Scholastic picture books. There’s something here for fans of vehicles, cats, dogs, and sleeping (it’s possible the fans of sleeping might be adults). As a school librarian at a full primary…

Reviews: Three New Non-Fiction

There are so many awesome non-fiction pukapuka coming out every year. This batch of assorted non-fiction covers nature crafts, endangered dolphins, and hauora. Linda Jane Keegan gives a rundown of what to expect in each. Play Wild: Nature Crafts for…

Reviews: Five New Picture Books

Fiona Giles reviews four books which cover learning numbers with tūī, sharing new words with siblings, a creative retelling of a fairytale featuring tardigrades, and a Ferrari-inspired story about dreaming big. Annelies Judson reviews the fifth: the latest in Dawn…

Reviews: Easter Round Up

Easter is just around the corner! Bee Trudgeon reviews the newest batch of picture books with chickens, fairies, and rabbits. Fun to read at Easter, or any time of year. I’m going to be straight up about this: my favourite…

Book List: Inspiration for Bug of the Year

This is the second year of New Zealand Bug of the Year. Step aside, Bird of the Year, the Entomological Society of New Zealand is keen to get our nation more interested in the lesser known heroes of our environment….

Reviews: Six New Zealand Non-Fiction

Here is a great bundle of Aotearoa non-fiction, all covering our natural world. We’ve got photographic pukapuka, creative non-fiction, rhyme, and bucketloads of facts. Editor Linda Jane Keegan gives her two cents on these titles. Family of Forest and Fungi…

Book List: ANZAC Reading

Tomorrow marks 108 years since the landings at Gallipoli in 1915. Editor Linda Jane Keegan tells us about some ANZAC-related books from the last few years, followed up with links to all of The Sapling’s previous book lists, interviews, and…

Reviews: Five Picture Books

Leila Austin reviews five picture books bursting with brightness, colour, and energy. Boingo and the Golden Balloon, by Dylan Coburn Storyboard artist and art director Dylan Coburn’s first solo picture book sets out to introduce young children to the concept…

A Box of Birds: A quick rundown of the bird books of 2022

The Sapling editor and picture book author Linda Jane Keegan gives a summary and her two cents on 20 bird books released this year. Some might suggest (okay, they have suggested, multiple times) that there are too many bird books…