Fresh off the ceremony at Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, the results are in and your New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults winners are…
The Margaret Mahy Book of the Year and the Junior Fiction Award:
Charlie Tangaroa and the Creature from the Sea by T K Roxborogh
Charlie Tangaroa and the Creature from the Sea has got it all—emotional depth, fantastical adventure, mystery, humour, gods, and natural disasters. The characters are wonderful—no one’s too perfect or powerful—and there’s a terrific balance of action and emotion, the earthly and the godly. Thirteen-year-old Charlie and his rascally brother Robbie find a strange kind of mermaid on the beach, and that’s just the beginning. You can almost taste the love and care that went into writing this book.
Jane Arthur, Good Books
Charlie Tangaroa and the Creature from the Sea
By T K Roxborogh
Illustrated by Phoebe Morris
Published by Huia Publishers
RRP $25.00
The Picture Book Award and the Best First Book Award:
Kōwhai and the Giants by Kate Parker
Kate Parker’s Kōwhai and the Giants manages to do its important and thoughtful storytelling while incorporating important themes and a luscious muted colour palette. What a beautiful way to get tamariki interested in taking care of our environment and saving the planet (as Kate puts it) “one seedling at a time”.
Briar & Nida
Kōwhai and the Giants
By Kate Parker
Published by Little Love, Mary Egan Publishing
RRP $30.00
Young Adult Fiction Award:
The Pōrangi Boy by Shilo Kino
This is such a well-crafted story with oodles of heart. It has elements of a coming-of-age story, but it is so much more than that. The faultless dialogue provides seamless characterisation and brings to light the history and politics that sit at the core of this story. Shilo Kino has a way of holding the story paramount.
Sarah Forster
Our Young Adult Fiction Coverage
Elsie Locke Award for Non-fiction:
Egg & Spoon, by Alexandra Tylee, illustrated by Giselle Clarkson
I saw a gap for a book that did not talk down to children, that understood the average child these days is just as likely to want anchovies on their toast as peanut butter, and that they are quite capable of finding their way around a kitchen without cutting off a toe and burning their eyebrows… It’s not so much a children’s cookbook as one that tries to tap into a childlike pleasure in making food. And the decision to use an illustrator, Giselle Clarkson, instead of a photographer as I had done in the past reinforces this: her delightful illustrations help us to understand that while cooking is a necessary part of our lives there is no reason why it can’t be fun.
Alexandra Tylee
Our Non-fiction coverage (what inspired the book)
Egg & Spoon: An illustrated cookbook
Written by Alexandra Tylee
Illustrated by Giselle Clarkson
Published by Gecko Press
RRP $40.00
Russell Clark Award for Illustration:Hare and Ruru:
A Quiet Moment by Laura Shallcrass
Hare’s desperate pursuit of peace is illustrated using a soft colour palette of blues and browns. Cross sections and ‘hare-level’ views allow readers to connect with Hare, hearing noises from above and below the earth. Moments of silence and sound are created through the use of negative space. Lastly, the view turns from the light earth to the dark heavens, and Ruru’s wise message about how to find quiet.
Book Awards Trust
Our Illustration Coverage (spreads and sketches)
Hare and Ruru: A Quiet Moment
By Laura Shallcrass
Published by Beatnik Publishing
RRP $30.00
Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu Award for Te Reo Māori:
Ngake me Whātaitai by Ben Ngaia and Laya Mutton-Rogers
We knew this book would have a wider audience than just those tamariki we could reach in Māori medium schools. Particularly from whānau of Te Āti Awa, we’ve had a wonderful response—this picture book is a keepsake to share with their descendants through the lens and language of their ancestors.
Brian Morris, Huia Publishers
Ngake me Whātaitai
Written by Ben Ngaia
Illustrated by Laya Mutton-Rogers
Published by Huia Publishers
RRP $20.00