From the Shop Floor: Books & Co
Along the Kāpiti Coast, in sunny Ōtaki, is one of our country’s youngest bookshops—Books & Co! Established in 2021, their team tells us what it’s like being the only independent bookshop in the area, their challenges, opportunities, and what books…
Looking Through the Mirror: Reflections on Storylines Margaret Mahy Awards Day
It was an exciting day at the Storylines Margaret Mahy Awards last weekend. Sapling editor Hannah Marshall was not only the winner for the Unpublished Writer Award in the young adult manuscript category, but captured her reflections of the day—both…
Librarians of Aotearoa: Some Dusty Shelves, A Lot of Books, and The Unexpected Passion
When Jess Starr walked into the role of librarian at Ruakākā School in Northland, the library had been out of action for years while it served as a classroom. Jess tells us about the journey of relaunching the library, and…
Quiz: Pride
The last two months have been significant for Aotearoa’s LGBTQIA+ community, with several major Pride events being celebrated across the country—so this month’s quiz is centred on the people, pukapuka, and events that make up New Zealand’s queer community. Questions…
My Creative Rights: What is it and how will it help creators?
Copyright Licensing New Zealand (CLNZ) has launched a new service that allows users to store their work, contracts and related documents, as well as access personalised rights information and legal advice. The Sapling explains MyCreativeRights and CLNZ chief executive Sam…
Regular Features
Features
From the Shop Floor: Books & Co
Along the Kāpiti Coast, in sunny Ōtaki, is one of our country’s youngest bookshops—Books & Co! Established in 2021, their team tells us what it’s like being the only independent bookshop in the area, their challenges, opportunities, and what books...
The Reckoning: YA on BookTok
‘BookTok’, the bookworm subculture of TikTok, has taken the literary and publishing world by storm—but has it been for better or worse? Charlotte Fielding delves into the world BookTok and its influence on the wider reading landscape. BookTok is a...
Book List: Sri Lankan Authors, Stories, and Characters
The Sinhalese and Tamil New Year takes place this weekend, so The Sapling asked Sri Lankan writer Diyamanthi Galpoththage to tell us about what Sri Lankan stories and authors are available in New Zealand. She shares her favourite childhood books...
The Mahy Questionnaire: Gillian Torckler
Gillian Torckler has many beautiful books under her belt, the latest being Dinner with Grandpa, illustrated by Nikki Slade Robinson (Duck Creek Press). She gives us her answers to our world-famous-in-New Zealand (okay maybe just semi-famous on The Sapling) Margaret...
Librarians of Aotearoa: Some Dusty Shelves, A Lot of Books, and The Unexpected Passion
When Jess Starr walked into the role of librarian at Ruakākā School in Northland, the library had been out of action for years while it served as a classroom. Jess tells us about the journey of relaunching the library, and...
Quiz: Pride
The last two months have been significant for Aotearoa’s LGBTQIA+ community, with several major Pride events being celebrated across the country—so this month’s quiz is centred on the people, pukapuka, and events that make up New Zealand’s queer community. Questions...
My Creative Rights: What is it and how will it help creators?
Copyright Licensing New Zealand (CLNZ) has launched a new service that allows users to store their work, contracts and related documents, as well as access personalised rights information and legal advice. The Sapling explains MyCreativeRights and CLNZ chief executive Sam...
Book List: Twisted Fairytales
Fairytales are the foundation onto which all children’s literature is built. It feels impossible to imagine a world where castles and fair princesses and evil witches and handsome princes aren’t a part of the make-up of the kidlit cannon. For...
RATA BOOKS: Connecting authors and illustrators with teachers and librarians
A group of Aotearoa authors and illustrators have long felt a need to get more coverage for our locally produced children’s books that don’t have the same marketing reach as international titles. Author Maria Gill tells us about the creation...
From the Shop Floor: The Kiwi Kids’ Bookstore
The Kiwi Kids’ Bookstore is an online bookstore that exclusively sells children’s and YA books by New Zealand authors and illustrators. It’s run by New Zealand author Kate Gordon-Smith, who writes junior fiction adventures and mysteries. Give us a one-paragraph...
School Librarians of Aotearoa: Alan Dingley
Alan Dingley, as well as being Aotearoa’s Te Awhi Rito Reading Ambassador, is the Library Manager at Freyberg High School in Palmerston North. Here he tells us about his journey to becoming a librarian, and the passion he has for...
The Giselle Clarkson Comic: Number 41
Giselle Clarkson is kicking off her comics this year with the book character dress-up equivalent of kids running around shouting at panicking younger and smaller-vocabularied children that their epidermis is showing.
Quiz: Booklovers Awards 2024
The 2024 Booklovers Awards shortlist has just been announced. How much do you know about this year’s shortlisted titles, authors, and categories? Rack your brains with our first quiz of the year, focused on all things Booklovers Awards-related! Questions 1....
The Reckoning: Lost in Translation?
Award-winning author Melinda Szymanik shares her realisations about the skills and challenges involved in translating children’s books. Prompted by the publication of her books in foreign languages, Szymanik talks to Bill Nagelkerke about his experiences of translating and all that...
From the Shop Floor: Diversity Books
Sarai Tuhua founded Diversity Books in 2023, an online bookstore dedicated to stocking stories that uphold inclusion and celebrate diversity. In our first From the Shop Floor segment of the year, Sarai gives us the rundown on her shop’s kaupapa,...
Interviews
Interview: Gavin Bishop on Patu
With his latest book, Gavin Bishop (Tainui, Ngāti Awa) delivers a powerful tale of the New Zealand Wars and the painful history of colonisation in Aotearoa. Simie Simpson (Te Ati Awa) talks with Gavin about Patu and how it came...
Not An Interview with Linda Jane Keegan
A childhood friend of The Sapling’s lead editor takes it upon herself to fabricate an interview which is either embarrassingly or honourably accurate: you decide. I meet Linda Jane Keegan at her home in Tākaka. Or at least I would...
Burning Bright: An Interview with SF Said
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...
Interview: Giselle Clarkson, Arts Laureate
This month, the children’s book community of Aotearoa New Zealand – and anyone who’s every interacted with her, probably – was collectively delighted to learn that illustrator Giselle Clarkson is one of the 2023 Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Laureates....
Interview: Catherine Robertson
Catherine Robertson is a prolific writer of well-loved novels for adults, as well as being the co-owner of Wellington bookshop GOOD BOOKS. This year, Cyclone Gabrielle prompted her to write her first book for children, Pearl in a Whirl, brilliantly...
Q&A: Linda Tuhiwai Smith on the Whatumanawa Collection
Linda Tuhiwai Smith is renowned in her field – indigenous education – and now has authored a series of picture books dealing with social issues, the Whatumanawa collection, available in both te reo Māori and reo Pākehā. They are serious,...
Young Authors Interview: Arush Gupta and Arlo Kelly
Young author Denika Mead sits down with two fellow young writers, Arush Gupta and Arlo Kelly, to hear all about their books, their inspiration, and their creative processes. Arush Arush Gupta is the author of James Wood: Chronicles of a...
Kiwi Author Pen Pals: What is it all about?
A new initiative has come to Aotearoa, spearheaded by author and bookstore owner Kate B. Gordon. The Sapling puts a few questions to Kate to tell us what it’s all about. What is the Kiwi Authors Pen Pal programme? Kiwi...
The Reckoning: Deaf Culture and our Stories
A lithe superhero with infinite power in the hands slides beneath to the underworld, guided by the hypnotising eyes of a Pīwakawaka. A tuatara locks it in a death grip, but she manages to break free by finger-spelling the magic...
The Sparrow: Q&A with Tessa Duder
Editor Hannah Marshall heads back in time in Tessa Duder’s newest YA novel, The Sparrow. Hannah puts some serious questions to Tessa, getting great insights into researching and writing historical fiction. Hannah Marshall: You’re a veteran of New Zealand literature....
Q&A with Isobel Joy Te Aho-White
It feels like everywhere we look, Isobel Joy Te Aho-White’s illustrations are gracing the covers and insides of some of New Zealand’s best picture books. By our count, she illustrated at least 13 books released in the last 18 months....
From the Shop Floor: Chicken and Frog
We are pleased to present a regular series highlighting the work, expertise and enthusiasm of some of the greatest children’s booksellers of New Zealand. Here is Chicken and Frog children’s bookstore in Featherston, owned and curated by Joanna Ludbrook. Here...
School Librarians of Aotearoa: Vanessa Hatley-Owen
Vanessa Hatley-Owen is a librarian at Botany Downs Primary School, Auckland. Here, she tells us about the best aspects of her job, what challenges she’s come up against, and about her own book! Tell us about where you work and...
Interview: Leela Chakraborti & Rajorshi Chakraborti
Leela Chakraborti (11) and Rajorshi Chakraborti are the daughter and dad co-authors of The Bad Smell Hotel, published by The Cuba Press. Rajorshi is the author of five novels and a short fiction collection for adults, and a young adult...
From the Shop Floor: The Underground Bookstore
Today we profile The Underground Bookstore, a collective of Wellington-based authors passionate about promoting and celebrating New Zealand writers and giving them the recognition they deserve. Here, Vanessa Evetts tells us about TUB’s origins, successes, and goals for the future....
Reviews
Reviews: How do I Colour Thee? Let Me Count the Ways
Linda Jane Keegan reviews a stack of books themed around learning numbers, colours, days of the week and Pacific languages. A delightful and colourful collection for anyone with little (and not-so-little!) ones in their lives. My Pasifika Language Series (Mila’s...
Reviews: Two Stellar Middle Grade Titles
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....
Reviews: Five New Picture Books
Fiona Giles reviews four books which cover learning numbers with tūī, sharing new words with siblings, a creative retelling of a fairytale featuring tardigrades, and a Ferrari-inspired story about dreaming big. Annelies Judson reviews the fifth: the latest in Dawn...
Reviews: Easter Round Up
Easter is just around the corner! Bee Trudgeon reviews the newest batch of picture books with chickens, fairies, and rabbits. Fun to read at Easter, or any time of year. I’m going to be straight up about this: my favourite...
Reviews: Two New Junior-Middle Grade Novels
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...
Reviews: Five Fun Picture Books
Transport, friendship, noisy library-users, pizza nights and child-fearing dentists are all covered in this line-up of new Aotearoa picture books. Kay Benseman reviews. Double Dippers (Big Little Blue #3), by Raymond McGrath (Scholastic NZ) This was my first read of a...
Reviews: Two Captivating STEM Books
Linda Jane Keegan reviews two books that are rooted in nature connectivity. Ultrawild is a thought experiment encompassing environmental science, engineering, and outrageous ideas for how to save the planet, and The Beach Activity Book is an assortment of water-themed...
Reviews: Four New Picture Book Releases
Annelies Judson shares her thoughts on four very different—but equally vibrant—picture books to hit the shelves. The Littlest Lifeguard, by Vanessa Hatley-Owen, illustrated by Lisa Allen The Littlest Lifeguard is a lighthearted look at how the smallest of us can...
Reviews: Two Aotearoa History Books
Frank Wilson is an initial education lecturer at Te Herenga Waka and works for the Aotearoa Social Studies Educators’ Network. Here she explores two new Aotearoa histories texts through the lens of a critical literacy framework in light of the...
Reviews: Four New Rhyming Christmas Books
Christmas books go out from the library at any of time of the year (well at least they do in Tākaka), but obviously Christmas time is the best time for diving into these festive reads. Linda Jane Keegan reviews the...
Review: Toitoi 33
Toitoi 33 is the latest collection of stories, art, and more, created by young people aged 5-18 from across the motu. Student Charlotte Hainstock offers us her thoughts on the newest issue. This latest issue of New Zealand’s Toitoi magazine...
Review: A YA Novel Based in 1950s NZ
High school teacher Briar Lawry deep dives into this compelling journey of a 12-year-old in New Zealand in the 1950s, from her move from South Africa, a rail disaster, and her life and relationships thereafter. There is something quite telling...
Reviews: Five New Picture Books
Our next batch of reviews is brought to you by Kay Benseman, who offers her thoughts on five brightly illustrated picture books. Mia and Leo Go Wild!, written by Gillian Candler and illustrated by Gavin Mouldey Our family are fans...
Reviews: Two Junior Fiction Stories
Join Fiona Giles as she unpacks the third and fourth instalments of Tim Tipene’s Pipi & Pou series in this latest batch of junior fiction reviews. Pipi & Pou and the Tentacles of the Deep (Pipi & Pou #3) &...
Reviews: Two New Junior Fiction Titles
Leila Austin reviews two new junior fiction titles with a strong sense of place. Rarotonga (#4 Elastic Island Adventures), by Karen McMillan The Elastic Island series follows the adventures of Kiri, Jed, Emma and Ethan, who travel via an ‘elastic’...
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