We are pleased to present a regular monthly series highlighting the work, expertise and enthusiasm of some of the greatest children’s booksellers of New Zealand. Here’s the ever-resilient Scorpio Books in Christchurch. Dave Cameron, the owner of Scorpio in Christchurch,…
Split consciousness features in very different ways in these two wonderful junior fiction titles for opposite ends of the audience age group. Sarah Forster tells us what she thinks. Between, by Adele Broadbent (OneTree House) Between had me under its…
Author and former bookshop owner Annemarie Florian tells us about three quite different recent releases, from New Zealand and further afield. The Day War Came, by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Rebecca Cobb (Walker Books) War – modern warfare – is…
For World Refugee Day, former refugee Nida Fiazi writes about her life and how books have intersected with it, and includes her recommendations for books (and attitudes) to help all people in Aotearoa understand the lives of refugees better. Books…
We are pleased to present a regular monthly series highlighting the work, expertise and enthusiasm of some of the greatest children’s booksellers of New Zealand. Tilly Lloyd of the famous Unity Books in Wellington shares some of their capital goings-on….
Bonnie Etherington, author of the multi-award-nominated novel The Earth Cries Out, reminisces about the stories and books from her childhood, how they connected her to New Zealand from West Papua, and considers language’s ability to give voice and pass on…
A notorious witch, some butterflies, and a fantail that can’t stay still. Reviewer Holly Walker enjoys a trip down memory lane with BadJelly, but will her daughter come with her? Badjelly the Witch, by Spike Milligan (Penguin NZ) Badjelly the Witch!…
Mandy Hager and Helen Vivienne Fletcher are both Wellington-based writers of YA and other things. Sarah Forster was excited to read Fletcher’s second YA publication, alongside a long-awaited sequel to The Nature of Ash from Hager. Underwater, by Helen Vivienne…
Each of these vibrant, colourful books comes from an independent publisher. Helen Vivienne Fletcher finds a lot to love about them. A Kaleidoscope of Butterflies & Other Such Collective Nouns, by Kate Hursthouse A Kaleidoscope of Butterflies & Other Such…
Fantasy and science fiction writer Karen Healey reckons that the national book awards, the NZ Book Awards, are erroneously named. Why not the the New Zealand Adult Literary Fiction, Non-Fiction and Poetry Awards? For that’s what they are, she argues….