Co-founder of The Sapling Jane Arthur has a long-standing interest in educational publishing – so when the opportunity came along to pick the brain of Clean Slate Press' Frances McBeath, it was the perfect match. Read on to learn more about the ins and outs of the Joy Cowley Building Bridges series, first launched in 2019. I’ve long been fascinated with educational publishing, the books and resources used in classrooms that you generally can’t buy in bookshops. To me, educati

When the review titles arrived this month, my kids called me the Book Queen and hugged the pages to their chests, eyes wide, already imagining what was inside. Book Queen? I said, I am the Queen of all the world and they laughed and told me I was right, people who buy books should rule the world. Then they curled up and devoured the stack over a weekend. Digging through the two anthologies and two short translations, we’ve had a blast deciding who are our favourite characters

In response to a request The Sapling put out on Twitter, teacher and author Sarina Dickson has compiled this wonderful list of New Zealand titles for those young readers who have finished Harry Potter and are reading above their age level at primary school. Advanced readers, assemble! As a child I loved to read. By the age of eight, I was reading anything I could get my hands on and in desperation had moved onto the books my mother had read. I read all about what Katy did at

Rachel Moore reviews five new New Zealand picture books, which cover everything from the beauty and brutality of nature, to how to cope with anxiety and bullying. The Promise of Puanga, by Kirsty Wadsworth and Munro Te Whata It’s wonderful to see publishers embracing the multitude of Matariki stories that are out there in Te Ao Māori – we’re all richer for reading them. This new title from Scholastic is no exception; I had heard of the star Puanga but didn’t know its signific

Whāngārei specialist children's librarian Meredith Wightman gives us a peek into her notebook today, and gives us a list of picture books that can help children ponder and process death, dying and grief. Last week I was flicking through my work notebook to see what on earth I have been doing in the last year (it’s performance review time) and right at the back was a little list of books from our children’s collection that are about death. Thankfully, it’s not a list that I ha

Disability consultant, activist and blogger Robyn Hunt suggests 21 books, from picture books to YA, that illuminate experiences of disability. Designing a book list for children and YA on disability is difficult. Such books are not usually at the top of the bestseller list, especially in a small market like New Zealand. Sadly local examples were few and far between, which is a little disappointing, but there are some gems to be found. These books are important as we struggle

Of the hundreds of children's books featuring our national bird, here are some all-stars that will help children and adults alike get to know these fascinating creatures better. Inside spread from It's My Egg and You Can't Have It, illustrated by Heather Hunt One of my very favourite books when I was little - I remember it from kindergarten age - was Kahu the Cautious Kiwi, by Brian Birchall, illustrated by Hadley Hodgkinson. I just tracked down a second-hand copy of it, and

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

John McIntyre from The Children’s Bookshop in Wellington is a top children’s bookseller. He's here once a month to answer your child-related reading questions. Stock image (Pixabay) Dear John, Could you please recommend some good chapter books for a thoughtful boy? I can't keep up with how fast my five year old is reading! He easily reads a longish chapter book in an evening. His favourites so far have been: Ramona Quimby, Junie B Jones, any Enid Blyton, the Lottie Lipton s

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

Every two weeks we compile, for your browsing pleasure, cool children's book happenings (and peripherally related news) from around Aotearoa, the world and the internet. The enticing children's book section at Nelson bookstore VOLUME. A little US-centric but here are some great ideas to get your whole family thinking about feminism. And here's an article about feminism in YA books. And from closer to home, Nelson bookshop VOLUME have put together a great post about their femi

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