This month, the children’s book community of Aotearoa New Zealand – and anyone who’s every interacted with her, probably – was collectively delighted to learn that illustrator Giselle Clarkson is one of the 2023 Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Laureates….
Do descriptions of food in books have you drooling or recoiling in disgust? This edition of the Giselle Clarkson comic delves into the delights and despair of the culinary in children’s literature.
This month’s edition of the Giselle Clarkson comic tackles every creative person’s most daunting task: coming up with ideas.
Sapling editor Hannah Marshall tapped into her inner journalist to attend the Featherston Booktown festival earlier this month. Her findings are reported here (spoiler: she loved every minute of it). On any ordinary day, the small southern Wairarapa town of…
In this edition of the Giselle Clarkson comic, Giselle explores a gripe she has in the children’s publishing industry: celebrities becoming authors. Her solution? Turn the authors into celebrities…
In our first comic of the year, Giselle Clarkson explores one of the best—and scariest—parts about being a children’s illustrator: school visits.
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…
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…
Giselle Clarkson ponders why she loves children’s books in her final comic for this iteration of The Sapling. Giselle’s latest book, The Tiny Woman’s Coat, written by Joy Cowley, has just been named the ‘children’s book of the week’ by…
We at The Sapling always love a good behind-the-scenes look into our favourite books, and we know you do too! So, as part of our coverage of this year’s NZCYA Awards, we’ve asked the authors of the Elsie Locke for…