Kyle Mewburn tells us why our children’s writers are so special, and opens a discussion about why New Zealand should appoint a Children’s Laureate. Kyle Mewburn at work on Dinosaur Trouble If your orbit has intersected with the local children's literature scene over the last few years, you've likely heard mutterings about our need for a Children's Laureate. (Or have I just been hanging round the wrong bars?) The role of a Laureate would necessarily be broad – ranging across t

Kate De Goldi confesses the pleasures of reading 'off-task and off-curriculum', and describes how necessary public libraries are to the development of a love of reading. In my late teens and early twenties I worked as a library assistant in two Christchurch libraries – Redwood and Fendalton. They serviced quite different socio-economic catchments but both were heavily patronized and loved community hubs, flourishing under the leadership of the magnificent Dorothea Brown, a Du