Book List: Queer kids need books too…
Way back in 2017, Cathy-Ellen Paul did a great list of Queer Books for School Libraries, and we thought it was about time to add to that list! Queer kids need books! And so do we all—books help us empathise…
LGBTQIA+
Kay O’Neill: Blue Skies and Happy Dragons
Have you read many comics with Deaf characters using sign language? How about queer characters and environmental themes? Kay O’Neill is a New Zealand cartoonist creating award-winning comics, and today Auckland cartoonist and illustrator Eddie Monotone interviews them for us….
Response to Things in the Sea are Touching Me
Alexandra Saunders admires Linda Jane Keegan’s debut picture book Things in the Sea are Touching Me, for many many reasons. The bright, crisp, clean illustrations by Minky Stapleton, the two mums, the rhyme scheme – find out what else! Things…
LGBTQI+ Book List: See Us, Hear Us, Validate Us
Today Emmett Roberts, a consent educator, library studies student, and intern with InsideOUT, reflects on what kinds of books young people in the LGBTIQ+ community – and beyond it – need, and gives us some recommendations to check out, from…
Queen Olivia St Redfern: Rainbow Story Time
At The Sapling, we believe that books grow humans. Rainbow Story Time is a recent phenomenon helping to grow humans who aren’t too hung up on the gender binary, and who are comfortable with who they are. Here to tell…
Book List: Queer & Trans Books for Schools
Young adults who are part of gender or sexual minorities may be in need of extra support in school environments. We asked School Library Assistant Cathy-Ellen Paul to help equip school staff to be their champions, including in the reading…
Dare Truth or Promise, Twenty Years On
Today we say ‘Happy Birthday!’ to Paula Boock’s ground-breaking novel for young adults, Dare Truth or Promise, published on this day, twenty years ago. Today Gem Wilder remembers how important it was for her to read as a teenager, and…
Ivan Coyote: Tomboy Survival Guide and beyond
Poet and teacher Rachel O’Neill interviews author and storyteller Ivan Coyote ahead of their appearance this May in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Coyote will be at the Schools Days at the Auckland Writers Festival. Their latest book, Tomboy Survival Guide,…
Promised Land: a fairy tale for everyone
First-time authors Chaz Harris and Adam Reynolds have been all over the international media lately, thanks to the success of their self-published, crowdfunded picture book, Promised Land. It’s a fairy tale about ‘friendship, responsibility, adventure and love’ which just happens…