Do you know any kids who love to explore and discover? Nature lover and environmental educator Linda Jane Keegan gives a rundown of New Zealand native species identification guides and other non-fiction nature books. When I was a kid, I wanted to make a booklet of flowers and weeds found in my parents’ suburban garden. Sadly I gave up this fine endeavour, because I struck the tricky problem of how was I going to figure out which flowers were flowers, and which flowers were we

As part of our ongoing finalist coverage of this year's New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, we have some glorious snippets to look at from the five Russell Clark Award for Illustration finalists! There are covers, decadent interior spreads, working sketches and even a script sample in there – so go forth and enjoy! Thanks to the Book Awards Trust for the descriptions of the books from a visual perspective. A semi-fictionalised account of Captain Cook’s jour

As part of our coverage of this year's NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, we've asked the publishers of the non-fiction finalists to explain why that manuscript, that idea caught their imaginations. Their responses are compelling and passionate, and you may need to get your wallet ready ... Aotearoa: The New Zealand Story was inspired by a recent international publishing trend for large-format, high-spec, lavishly illustrated children’s non-fiction. We’d been eyein

Do you want to be sure you're getting top-shelf books for your favourite people this Christmas - or on any gift-giving occasion? We are making it easy for you! Here is our selection of the very best New Zealand books of 2017 for readers of junior and middle fiction. Junior Fiction Miniwings series by Sally Sutton Published by Scholastic New Zealand RRP $14.99 This new series from Scholastic hooks into an idea that we're sure most children have had at some point (we know we

Do you want to be sure you're getting top-shelf books for your favourite people this Christmas - or on any gift-giving occasion? We are making it easy for you! Here is our selection of the very best New Zealand books of 2017 for fact-finders. Aotearoa: The New Zealand Story by Gavin Bishop Published by Penguin Random House NZ RRP $40.00 You heard it here: this book is going to win every prize going. Aotearoa tells the story of our nation, from the big bang, via dinosaurs, th

We get two legends together for this extraordinary interview about an extraordinary book, Aotearoa: The New Zealand Story. Donovan Bixley interviews Gavin Bishop. Rain is hammering the roof of my studio in Taupō, so my ears are squinting to hear Gavin Bishop’s sonorous voice coming down the line, from his studio in Christchurch. We yabber away for an hour, me highly excitable and never finishing my sentences, and Gavin deep and thoughtful, with his wacky humour bubbling just

Storylines Children’s Literature Foundation has given awards for local children’s literature since 2000, named for some of our most distinguished authors, both living and dead. All images below are courtesy of Crissi Blair. This is the first time I have made it up to Auckland for the presentation of the Storylines Awards, this year incorporating the Joy Cowley Award, the Tom Fitzgibbon Award, the Gavin Bishop Award for Illustration, and the Gaelyn Gordon Award for a Best-Love

The Storylines Gavin Bishop Award has been offered to a promising Kiwi illustrator since 2009. Set up by Gavin Bishop and Jenny Hellen, then Children’s Publisher at Random House NZ, they are administered now by Storylines Children’s Literature Charitable Trust. This year’s winner was announced at today's Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal and National Awards Day in Auckland. Congratulations to Lael Chisholm. Lael Chisholm As somebody who has recently been judging books, I asked G

Legendary author and illustrator Gavin Bishop interviews legendary author and illustrator David Elliot about his masterwork, Snark. Thimbles, care, forks, hope and a great deal of courage is needed to hunt a snark. The hunter may also 'threaten its life with a railway share' or 'charm it with smiles and soap'. David Elliot, in his book Snark: Being a True History of the Expedition that Discovered the Snark and the Jabberwock …and its Tragic Aftermath, not only takes us on a t

Johanna Knox and her friend, 10-year-old Noah, review Dinosaur Trouble by Kyle Mewburn, Helper and Helper by Joy Cowley, and Tui Street Tales by Anne Kayes. Ten-year-old Noah, from down the road, loves books, so I thought he’d make a perfect reading buddy. We decided I’d mostly read aloud to him. Dinosaur Trouble #1: The Great Egg Stink You probably already know Kyle Mewburn and Donovan Bixley’s immensely successful Dinosaur Rescue series, which follows the adventures of brai

'Food and Friends', a chapter from Helper and Helper, the new Snake and Lizard book written by Joy Cowley and illustrated by Gavin Bishop. It was the dry season and the river was shrinking. It became a stream, then a swamp and then a series of muddy patches with a dry gulch between. Lizard had to go further to find the damp spots where there were still flies to be had. The flies were fewer and the competition had increased. Every fly-eating creature was there, pushing and sho