In April, Ruth Paul and Juliette MacIver took their Kiwi author-illustrator talents over to the United Arab Emirates – more specifically, to the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival. Ruth kindly shed some light on the experience for our readers. I couldn’t decide whether I should call this piece ‘Deity for a Day’ or ‘Three Caldecotts and Me.’ But nothing could top my lasting vision of Juliette MacIver with arms outstretched blocking the exit to our session crying ‘Stop! It’s n

Helping children deal with obstacles and setbacks is a core part of parenting and teaching. Today education lecturer and writer Frank Wilson suggests some picture books that can help model these skills - while also being fantastic reads. Detail from Puffin the Architect, by Kimberly Andrews (Puffin/Penguin Random House NZ) If you know a kid at primary school in New Zealand at the moment, you probably will have heard the term 'growth mindset' - this idea is incredibly popular

Hearing the wonderful news that six more towns are going to be Refugee Resettlement centres, we got thinking about what books might provide the best and friendliest introduction to a new life in Aotearoa New Zealand. Here's our starting list of picture books for newly arrived former refugees. What favourites would you add? Detail from Kia ora, You can be a Kiwi too, by June Pitman-Hayes, translated by Ngaere Roberts, illlustrated by Minky Stapleton The books that form our chi

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 picture books of 2017. The Longest Breakfast by Jenny Bornholdt, illustrated by Sarah Wilkins Published by Gecko Press RRP $30.00 In this delightful story Jenny Bornholdt shows us a family getting up and making breakfast, through fun little flashes of conversation.

Ahead of Father's Day, four Kiwi Dads let us in on what their family reading lives are like. Here are some excerpts from previous The Sapling articles by music journalist Nick Bollinger; founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards and writer at Crime Watch Craig Sisterson; political cartoonist, comic artist, illustrator, and writer Toby Morris (aka The Pencilsword), and journalist, writer and editor of The Spinoff Books, Steve Braunias. First up is Nick Bollinger, with an account of re

For the final part of our finalist coverage of this year's NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, we have quite the treat for you: excerpts of the five Picture Book Award finalists! Here are the first few pages of each book, along with descriptions from the Book Awards Trust. Who'll be the winner? We find out on Monday, 14 August ... An uplifting story about imagination, and a rather wonderful caterpillar. It has magic and charm, evocative language and rhyme which echo

Mark Broatch reviews four recent picture books by New Zealand authors and illustrators – Inspector Brunswick: The Case of the Missing Eyebrow about a feline detective and an art gallery, What Are You Supposed to Be? about a weird wolf, Grandad's Guitar which celebrates inter-generational bonds and We're Off to Find a Kiwi, in which two siblings go on an adventure in search of the quiet bird. A spread from Inspector Brunswick: The Case of the Missing Eyebrow by Chris Lam Sam a

Marmaduke Duck creator, Juliette MacIver explains how she's managed to write such a vast number of excellent rhyming picture books, so we all might follow suit. How often do I get asked to describe the minutiae of my day as if such mundane details might be of as much interest to others as they are to my navel-gazing self? Why, almost never! So I present, with great pleasure, a photo of this morning’s coffee: This tea-set I inherited from my grandmother, and I rather treasure