Amanda Noblett (Tainui, Waikato, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Pākehā) plays the kuia in Te Kuia me te Pūngāwerewere, Taki Rua Productions’ Te Reo Māori Season play that is touring the country at the moment. Guest editor Kura Rutherford caught up with her and covered a lot of ground, from spiders to netball! Amanda Noblett as the Kuia; detail from a photograph by Philip Merry Amanda is a graduate of Whitireia Performing Arts course with a Bachelor of Applied Arts, and has worked on

The Invincibles: Power Up! is the first book in a super-charged new junior fiction series. Regular old rugby practice turns into something more when five kids are zapped by lightning and find themselves in possession of a range of different super powers! Scholastic NZ have kindly allowed us to present this sampling. CHAPTER TWO Tana guided the team through a simple set of passing drills as heavier rain began to fall. “Okay everyone, when you’re catching the ball, try not to l

Bonjour Lucy Bee is a fast-paced holiday adventure novel. Lucy Bee is on a family reunion holiday in France when she finds an injured boy behind a bush. Having some idea that he is a refugee, she hides him and gets help. But there is something amiss in their part of France - precious articles keep getting stolen from chateaux. One Tree House has kindly allowed us to present this sampling of a new book for junior fiction readers. CHAPTER TWO When we went downstairs, the house

From the author of the highly acclaimed Into the White, Amundsen's Way: The Race to the South Pole (Allen & Unwin) is the gripping tale of the Norwegian explorer's courage, determination and ruthlessness in the race to the South Pole. In this excerpt, Amundsen prepares to telegraph the news of reaching the South Pole. 7 MARCH 1912 – HOBART Many years from now, the people of Hobart will tell how he strode up Murray Street, an imposing figure flanked by two fearsome sledge dogs

In this new book, psychologist Gwendoline Smith (AKA Doctor Know) teaches teens about what's going on in their minds and how to get their feelings under control. It's designed to help them adapt and feel better about their place in the world, cope with anxiety and put their negative inner voice in check – useful for the start of the school year. From Chapter 2 When I’m teaching I like to start off with the diagram [above]. This is a very standard template that explains the ba

Ricky’s family buy a mansion in a trendy suburb, with panoramic views of the city. Too good to be true… Yep, a real bargain. But this house also has a resident ghost, who wants them out. Cockroaches in the moving boxes, a red sock in the washing with his cricket whites! It’s up to Ricky, and his neighbour Fi, to solve this annoying mystery. Kyle Mewburn is an award-winning author from Miller's Flat. This is her first book with OneTree House. Chapter 3 The real estate agent wa

From Washington D.C, comes Leila, a young woman in search of family, a place to belong. Instead she finds her destiny and it threatens to tear her apart. There is the bewitching call of a Telesa sisterhood and there is Daniel. Will Leila embrace her birthright or will she choose the one who offers her his love with a crooked smile and dancing green eyes? Will Daniel be the element that gentles the fire of the Telesa? Or must love burn at the altar of the Telesa coven . . . Th

Rafferty is an orphan, raised by monks. Misfortune strikes and he is outcast, and must fend for himself. He uses his cunning and charm to develop a trade for himself as the town’s ratcatcher... and rat liberator. Rafferty Ferret: Ratbag is by renowned NZ fantasy author Sherryl Jordan. Check out last year's interview with Jordan by Catherine Woulfe. Chapter 3 - Rats! And Rafferty's first valiant attempts to trap them Rafferty crouched behind the pile of firewood, and waited in

When her family moves suburbs, Laura discovers an old abandoned house on her street. It seems like the perfect hideout, but something – or, rather, someone – is already hiding inside. Laura meets Jacob, a runaway teen in a lot of trouble. What is he hiding from? If Laura gets involved, will she help Jacob or just get herself into trouble? The Trespassers Club is a fast-paced Kiwi mystery for pre-teens. Chapter 4 In the morning, I was the last to get up. I hadn’t slept well bu

Here's an extract from a new New Zealand Christmas picture book, The Lonely Little Tree by Moya Kirby and illustrated by Terri Rose Baynton (Scholastic). A lone and lonely tree overlooks the sea from the edge of a cliff where a forest once grew. Native birds gather, promising to cheer her up – they will make her their Christmas tree! With decorations of clematis blossoms, a spider’s silvery threads, feathers, berries and shells, the tree gets spruced up in time for Christmas

Flight of the Fantail is a debut YA novel by Steph Matuku, published by Huia. We are pleased to publish the first chapter to whet your appetite for this spooky homegrown mystery. A busload of high school students crashes in bush in a remote part of Aotearoa New Zealand. Only a few of the teenagers survive; they find their phones don’t work, there’s no food, and they’ve only got their wits to keep them alive. There’s also something strange happening here. Why are the teenagers

Sam has a problem. He has to share a room with his older brother and things aren’t easy. When Sam sees Donald Trump on TV talking about ‘the wall’ he realises a solution is at hand! But who knew that planning a wall could be so tricky? Here are the first few pages from this new NZ picture book, Dear Donald Trump by Sophie Siers and illustrated by Anne Villeneuve (Millwood Press). Dear Donald Trump, I'm writing you a letter from my bedroom in New Zealand. Sadly, the room does

We're pleased to present an excerpt from The Mapmakers' Race (Gecko Press), a new novel by Eirlys Hunter and illustrated by Kirsten Slade. Kate De Goldi says the book is 'one of the most poised, stylish children’s books [she has] read in a long time … An utter delight'. In The Mapmakers' Race, four children temporarily lose their parents just as they are about to begin the race that offers their last chance of escaping poverty. Their task is to map a rail route through an unc

We are very pleased to have permission to publish the first three spreads of the Giselle Clarkson-illustrated picture book, Secret World of Butterflies, written by Courtney Sina Meredith (Allen & Unwin NZ/Auckland Museum). Butterflies are beautiful but they have some very odd habits - welcome to their secret world. Published to accompany the Auckland Museum exhibition Secret World of Butterflies (June 2018 to May 2019). Butterflies can be big and butterflies can be teeny. Fr

The Short but Brilliant Career of Lucas Weed by debut author Chrissie Walker won the 2017 Storylines Tom Fitzgibbon Award for an Unpublished Writer. It's now been published by Scholastic NZ. The book tells the story of Lucas Weed. He hasn’t really made any friends at his new school, so when the ‘cool kids’ suggest he carry out a prank in class, Lucas thinks it might be his path to being accepted. And when the pranks keep getting more and more outrageous – and with videos uplo