Claire Mabey is one of the busiest people in Aotearoa literature: founder of the Verb festival, books editor at The Spinoff, and now novelist, with an outstanding debut, The Raven’s Eye Runaways. Thalia Kehoe Rowden had a thousand questions for…
Joanna Grochowicz adds another Antarctic exploration journey under her belt and Pauline Cartwright’s re-released story of the Otago goldfields is back with a fresh face. Denika Mead reviews. Mawson in Antarctica: To the Ends of the Earth, by Joanna Grochowicz…
The intimidatingly-talented author of two acclaimed poetry collections, owner of the best fringe in New Zealand lit, and all round book-ish Good Sort sat down with Rachael King to talk about making the leap from poetry to kidlit and the…
Claudine Tapsell reviews three recent middle grade reads from two well-known authors and one on-their-way to being well-known winner of the Storylines Tom Fitzgibbon Award. These pukapuka are spine-tingling, slow-burning, and heart-warming, with richly written and endearing characters. Koro’s Star,…
Author Cassie Hart reviews two new and deeply personal middle grade reads: one about a shy kid who learns that they might not just be “the sole weirdo on the planet” and a coming-of-age historical fiction that dives into race…
Cassie Hart reviews two new middle grade novels both entrenched in a sense of place and dealing with difficult emotions. Rachael King’s The Grimmelings is beautiful and fantastical, and Leonie Agnew’s Take Me To Your Leader is funny and heartwarming….
Leila Austin reviews two new novels and comes across adventurous kids, dragon poo and mysteriously vanishing pistachio cupcakes. Maddison McQueen and the Cupcake Mystery (Red Collie Mysteries: Book 1), by Kate Gordon-Smith (Relish Books) Maddison McQueen and the Cupcake Mystery…
James Russell The Sapling is running a Summer Excerpt Series showcasing the junior and young adult titles from the 2023 Storylines Notable Book Awards. This week we have the first three chapters from James Russell’s Children of the Rush 2, the thrilling sequel to…
By Anne Kayes The Sapling is running a Summer Excerpt Series showcasing the junior and young adult titles from the 2023 Storylines Notable Book Awards. Next up is the third title in Anne Kaye’s Tūī Street series, Tūī Street Legends. You can read…
SF Said’s visionary tale Tyger finally makes its way to Aotearoa bookshops this month. Already published to lavish acclaim in the United Kingdom, the book takes the mythic work of the great William Blake as inspiration for a middle grade…