It’s our final installment of the NZCYA finalists before the winners are announced next week. Briar Lawry gets the downlow from her high school students on what they think of the finalists, with some insightful if not judgemental reckons. The…
Tomorrow marks 108 years since the landings at Gallipoli in 1915. Editor Linda Jane Keegan tells us about some ANZAC-related books from the last few years, followed up with links to all of The Sapling’s previous book lists, interviews, and…
Sarah Forster reviews three recent junior fiction reads from some of Aotearoa’s most accomplished writers. Below, by David Hill This book takes you underground and leaves you there, gasping for breath until the very end. It is pure David Hill,…
Robin Hyde (pen name for Iris Wilkinson), one of New Zealand’s best poets, novelists and journalists, is widely praised for her wit, compassion, and imagery, as well as for the power and emotional accuracy of her writing. She is credited…
In the first of a two-part series with Kay Benseman (Pākehā German, Irish, Scottish, Spanish, English ancestry) and Barry McLernon (Te Āti Awa & Pākehā Scottish, Dutch ancestry) about Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Kay shares her thoughts about the lack…
We’re always trying to keep things fresh and interesting in our awards coverage, whether that’s remixing what we do with which category or coming up with something new altogether. For 2021’s Picture Book Award finalists, we decided to put the…
Our relationship with children’s books evolves as we grow older, becoming parents or aunties and uncles or just willing readers to friends’ tamariki. But as Philippa Werry has found, there’s another shift that takes place when one takes up the…
Author Linda Jane Keegan reviews some new non-fiction from Aotearoa that puts the spotlight on stories of war and disasters, and two books that look at the natural world, from seasons to snappers! Snapper—The Real Story, by Annemarie Florian &…
Reviewer Rachel Moore goes on a journey into her backyard, before shooting into space, then coming back to New Zealand for a history lesson of the canine kind. The Nature Activity Book by Rachel Haydon and Pippa Keel (Te Papa…
It’s a good time to be curling up somewhere cosy at home with a good book. For the eight to twelves in your life, there are some brilliant new releases to look into. Sarah Forster has reviewed four new titles…