Tessa Duder provides a brief history of children’s literature in New Zealand – and finds multiple reasons to be cheerful about the state of play in 2017. One grey, misty morning in the Auckland suburb of Mt Eden, a 43-year-old teachers college librarian is walking to work. His eyes are drawn up to that shrouded, … Read more
Dr Paula Morris reveals the seething family dynamics and political turmoil that went on behind the scenes of the books loved by millions. Southern Missouri, 1928. On a green ridge outside the sleepy town of Mansfield, an elderly farming couple lived in a white wooden house, its soaring stone chimney built entirely from the rocks on … Read more
Adult literature in New Zealand gets most of the press, but kids’ books is a fresh and exciting field, writes Sarah Forster, co-creator of the brilliant website The Sapling. Have you heard of Ruth Paul? How about Bob Darroch? Or Phillip Webb? Jenny Cooper? Fleur Beale? Des Hunt? I’ll help you: each of these author has written … Read more
School libraries are a sanctuary and safe place for many children. Here Sarah Forster, co-creator of the amazing children’s literature website The Sapling, lists the things all parents should know about school librarians. I spent a LOT of time in school libraries as a kid. Remember the index cards in those fit-for-purpose filing cabinets? Remember … Read more
Author Chaz Harris on growing up without positive gay role models in a homophobic world – and how he’s created Promised Land, a fairytale so that our children don’t go through the same. I was at the last Out in the Park with my golden tutu-d and pink gumbooted little boy. We had marched in the parade as … Read more
Sarah Forster – a judge at next year’s children’s book awards – chooses the best 20 local and international books of the year. PICTURE BOOKS That’s Not a Hippopotamus (Gecko Press, $19.99) by Juliette MacIver and Sarah Davis A hilarious take on the plight of the quiet boy who is the only person who can … Read more
Nadine Millar’s son Cormac has loved books all his life – but for a long time he just couldn’t (or wouldn’t) read them. She explains why this wasn’t as terrible as it first seemed, and tells the story of how Cormac finally learned to read. When I was five I learnt to read. Each letter … Read more
Now that the dust has settled on the weekend’s Tinderbox Children’s Writers and Illustrators conference in Wellington, time to ask: who are the most powerful people in children’s literature? Tricky thing, power. Are the most powerful people in the New Zealand children’s book world those that are recognised internationally as experts? Do they need to … Read more