What makes a book last? What makes it win? I try to figure this out, as a judge of the NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults this year, revisiting 15 books that won the top awards and have lasted the test of time. As a judge for this year’s NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, I can’t comment here on anything to do with the current awards – but that doesn’t extend to awards of the past. Illustration by Gavin Bishop from The House that Jack Built I have been in

Children's author, writing teacher and editor Raymond Huber is fascinated by the way in which children's writers have used picture books historically to fight dictators. This is especially apt right now (ahem), so here are a few books he would recommend. The final page of The Story of Ferdinand (1936) shows Ferdinand after he has returned from the bullrings of Madrid. He sits peacefully on his hill. Image source: A Subversive Bull: Robert Lawson and the Story of Ferdinand. A

Anzac Day brings with it a fever pitch of publishing of war books for both children and adults. This has been especially true during the centenary commemorations of World War I. People are horrified by war, but also fascinated, and it is important for everybody to know some history: to understand what has happened, what is happening, and why. So we can find a solution. As Melinda Szymanik noted in her recent article, 'War! What Is It Read For?': ‘War books are an opportunity