We asked The Sapling’s editors and contributors for their best reads of the year. The criteria was broad: recent books preferred but not strictly enforced, titles from Aotearoa or overseas and books for babies to young adults. Here’s what we…
Elizabeth Heritage reviews Mary-Anne Scott’s latest novel for teens. We have rats in our house but it’s on purpose, as pets. In The Mess of our Lives, the new YA novel by Mary-anne Scott, there are rats in the house…
Eight year olds to teens edition. Avid book collectors know that some of the best informed opinions on books are found over the counter at your local bookstore, so we’ve asked Aotearoa’s specialist children’s booksellers what they’re recommending for Christmas…
Bee Trudgeon attended the ‘Disability Literati’ session at Verb Wellington, to learn more about how children and young people are portrayed in literature and a perceived historical tendency for disabled children to be treated as ‘life lessons, plucky objects of…
Denika Mead recently researched and presented a seminar on the emergence of the ‘new adult’ age category for fiction as part of her studies for the Whitireia Graduate Diploma in Publishing. Here, she asks and explains ‘What is new adult…
The Storylines Notable Books for 2024 were announced this morning. Test your knowledge of all books notable here! Questions Answers Storylines Notable Books for 2024 Non-Fiction Dear Moko: Māori wisdom for our young ones, Dr Hinemoa Elder, Miriama Grace-Smith (PenguinRandom…
Mandy Hager’s latest young adult novel is a family drama bringing together issues of care work, disability, and identity. Elizabeth Heritage reviews. Gracehopper is Mandy Hager’s new YA novel about Grace Murphy, a Taiwanese 18-year-old living in Wellington with her…
Steph Matuku’s latest YA novel grapples with themes of enforced migration, loss, societal expectations, and coloniser violence. Ceridwyn Roberts describes it as ‘unputdownable’, a match for The Hunger Games, and better than other series. I always hesitate to call a…
This year’s NZCYA YA finalists span a huge range of genres, settings, and themes. From the journey of an escaped convict as she tries to forge a life in colonial Tāmaki Makaurau, to a graphic novel about the struggles of…
‘BookTok’, the bookworm subculture of TikTok, has taken the literary and publishing world by storm—but has it been for better or worse? Charlotte Fielding delves into the world BookTok and its influence on the wider reading landscape. BookTok is a…