Kids Blog

The LIANZA (Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa) children’s book awards finalists have been announced.

Basically these are New Zealand librarians recognising the best books that have been published for children and teens in the last year.

The awards are separated up into 5 categories: best junior fiction (the top book wins the Esther Glen Medal), best illustration (The winner gets the Russell Clark Award), best non-fiction (the winner gets the Elsie Locke Award), best book written in te reo Maori (Te Kura Pounamu Award), and there is also a prize for the top teen book too.

The finalists for each category have just been announced (check them out below). A winner will be chosen from the finalists in each category, which will be announced at a sparkly awards ceremony on August 5th in Wellington.

Hot fact: The Esther Glen Medal for Junior Fiction is the oldest book award in New Zealand. It was first awarded in 1945 – that’s 68 years ago!

LIANZA Junior Fiction Award – Esther Glen Medal

The Queen and the Nobody Boy: A tale of Fontania by Barbara Else

The Drover’s Quest by Susan Brocker

When Empire Calls by Ken Catran

Red Rocks by Rachael King

The ACB with Honora Lee by Kate de Goldi

Lightning Strikes: The Slice by Rose Quilter (We don’t have this in the libraries yet. Check back later)

LIANZA Illustration Award – Russell Clark Award

The Dragon Hunters by James Russell, illustrated by Link Choi

Mister Whistler by Margaret Mahy, illustrated by Gavin Bishop

Kiwi: The Real Story by Annemarie Florian, illustrated by Heather Hunt

Blue Gnu by Kyle Mewburn, illustrated by Daron Parton

Melu byKyle Mewburn, illustrated by Ali Teo and John O’Reilly

A Great Cake by Tina Matthews

LIANZA Non Fiction Award – Elsie Locke Medal

At the Beach: Explore & Discover the New Zealand Seashore by Ned Barraud and Gillian Candler

Eruption! Discovering New Zealand Volcanoes by Maria Gill

100 Amazing Tales from Aotearoa by Simon Morton and Riria Hotere,

Te Kura Pounamu (te reo Māori)

Hautipua Rererangi story by Julian Arahanga, illustrated by Andrew Burdan

Ngā Waituhi o Rēhua by Katerina Te Heikoko Mataira

Arohanui by Huia Publishers, illustrated Andrew Burdan (Sorry, we don’t have this one in our libraries yet)

Ko Meru by Kyle Mewburn, translated by Ngaere Roberts, illustrated by Ali Teo and John O’Reilly  (Sorry, we don’t have this one in our libraries yet)

Taea ngā whetū by Dawn McMillan, translated by Ngaere Roberts, illustrated by Keinyo White

Wild Buddies …and Baddies

In this amazing book I learnt that a worm can control the mind of a weta! Read it for yourself and find out all about tuataras that like to snuggle up to seabirds and why keas can be  the biggest of all bird bullies.

 A Black Hole is Not a Hole

Then what is it?  This book has the most amazing space photographs and the text for older readers will totally have you knowing all about black holes by the time you reach the back page. A book full of surprises (because sometimes a black hole is where you least expect it! )

 What’s Maths all about?

This is a hugely informative and very funny book about numbers and mathematicians for the older reader. Pages are packed with fun facts and helpful explanations of everything from measurement to probability. Also contains a great internet link for more maths fun.

 That’s Life

How did life begin? What’s at the top of the food chain? What are the weirdest life forms on Earth? Find out in this fact-packed, brilliantly illustrated book and put the buzz back into biology.

Lives of the Great Spiritual Leaders

“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one” Mother Teresa once said.  Jesus challenges us to “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,”  and the Dalai Lama asks us to “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.”

Older readers will enjoy learning about the great spiritual leaders of the world in this inspiring book.

The Awesome Book of Unusual Bible Heroes

This book has some seriously weird stories and one chapter even comes with a warning that that only males between the ages of 8 and 12 will truly appreciate its graphic and gruesome details! For some reason the author thinks that girls will probably run screaming from the room when they discover the gory details of the story. Hmmm. Makes me want to get every girl to read it and prove him wrong! Come on girls, don’t let me down now….

The not-for-parents Travel Book

This is your very own Lonely Planet book kids. Find out really cool stuff about every country in the world.

We’ve Got A Job

This is the incredible story of a key piece of civil rights history that I had no idea about. One of the kids tells about their time marching for civil rights in 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama. “When my mother took me to school Monday morning, I went straight though the school. In one door and out the other. There must have been three to four hundred kids leaving the school, headed towards downtown.” These kids were hosed with water canons and arrested for standing up for their rights and the rights of their parents who couldn’t march for fear of losing their jobs. Great book.

Knight

Join a joust, examine armour and discover the long forgotten rules of chivalry all from the comfort of your own home. This is another great Eye Witness book crammed full of information, photographs. Basically everything you ever wanted to know about knights.

Henry Vlll

Good old Henry Vlll. Apparently he was a very clever and fun-loving Tudor king. But he and his wife Catherine did not produce a son. (Pretty essential back in the day.) Henry’s solution is to change the rules of the church so he can divorce and marry again, and again, and again, and again and again. Find out all about this character and his six wives in this excellent little book. Other important people in this Famous People Great Events series are Anne Frank, Queen Elizabeth ll, Elizabeth l, Florence Nightingale, Martin Luther King. And two great events in this series are The Great Fire of London and The Gunpowder Plot.

The Bumper Book of London

London will be in the news a lot soon when it hosts the Olympics, so get to know the place now by reading all about this amazing city in this fact packed book. You too can gasp at London’s smallest dingeon, walk under the Thames (without getting wet), scare yourself silly in the most haunted palace in London and learn a bit of London lingo to chat with with the locals.

This Friday (April 20) is the 90th annual Poppy Day Appeal, and the following Wednesday (April 25) is ANZAC Day. The donations raised from Poppy Day help people and their families who have returned from war. It helps with things like medical bills.

ANZAC Day is a public holiday. It’s a time to remember all New Zealanders who have been killed in war. Some people sleep in on ANZAC Day, and some people get up when it’s still dark to attend a Dawn Service. Wherever you are in New Zealand there will be a dawn service somewhere near you.

A.J. Toledo has written a really interesting book called Wearing the Poppy. She tells the story of ANZAC day through the experiences of 6 members of her family who fought at Gallipoli in WWI. She explains why the red poppy is a symbol of remembrance throughout the world.

Wow we are so lucky here in good old NZ with the high level of local authors and illustrators that create books that are a joy to read and share. This year’s nominations for the best Picture Books are no exception with a range of books for all reading levels.

My favs of this bunch would have to be Ruth Paul’s newest title Stomp and The Cat’s Pyjamas by Catherine Foreman. Stomp is a fun, follow the leader story great for preschoolers and younger primary aged children and The Cat’s Pyjamas introduces a cat who entertains us with a different pair of pyjamas and dream for each day of the week.

If you’re around the middle primary age or older give Rahui by Chris Szekely (also in Te Reo) and Waiting for Later by Tina Matthews a go. 

For the senior primary/intermediate and teen readers Shaolin Burning by Ant Sang (of Bro Town fame) is a graphic novel with a modern take on kung fu mythology with plenty of Shaolin principles, non-stop action and burning revenge!

Don’t forget to vote for your favourite – you could win!

There’s something for everyone is this selection of Junior Fiction finalists, from genetically engineered mutant fly traps (the Flytrap Snaps by Johanna Knox), a boy who wants to be a super hero when he grows up (Super Finn by Leonie Agnew), the quest for the return of magic to the world of fontania (The Travelling Restaurant by Barbara Else), a tale of finding your place in the world (Just Jack by Adele Broadbent) and a sequel to the mysterious Loblolly Boy which was a finalist in the 2010 Junior Fiction category with The Loblolly Boy and the Sorcerer by James Norcliffe.

Pick one off the Library shelf today or place a reserve to get one in your hands soon!

Its not just the authors who get all the winning fun. Vote for your favourite and you could be a winner too!

Here’s a run-down on the Non-Fiction finalists for The New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards

Nice Day for a War by Chris Slane and Matt Elliot is an engaging and enlightening look at World War 1. With real excerpts from the war diary of Cyril Elliot (Matt Elliott’s grandfather), cartoon strips, authentic pictures of our soldiers and heaps of other interesting information it will capture even the most reluctant war-story reader.

Likewise with Chris Grosz’s, Kimble Bent Malcontent, the story of an American soldier who deserts while stationed in New Zealand during the land wars, and ends up fighting with the Hauhau, a Taranaki tribe of fearsome reputation.

The Life Cycle of the Tuatara by Betty Brownlie -everything you want to know about Tuatara! It includes interesting facts beautiful pictures of Tuatara in the wild and really easy to follow format that will have you reciting Tuatara facts with ease!

For the budding archaeologists, Digging Up the Past by David Veart will captivate all readers and have you thinking like an archaelogists as it excavates the stories of the past.

Lastly, New Zealand Hall of Fame by Maria Gill and Bruce Potter, look at 50 famous New Zealanders and the contributions they have made that warrants their inclusion in this beautifully rendered collection of biographies.

Its not just the authors that can win – you can too! Vote for your favourite and you could win yourself and your school some book vouchers. Cool!

Pheww, what a mouthful of a title but don’t let that put you off checking out some of the nominations for the 2012 Children’s Book Awards. With 4 categories: Picture Book, Junior Fiction, Young Adult Fiction and Non-fiction, there is a fine selection of books that showcase the talents of our New Zealand authors and illustrators.

You can be in to win as well by voting for your favourite book. Grab a voting form from your school or local library or vote online. This goes into the Children’s Choice Award and enters you into the draw to win $500 worth of books for yourself and your school!

We’ll be writing about the finalist books here. So check back to find out more.

Get reading and get voting! You could find a new favourite book, or pick the winner! The winning books will be announced on May 16th.

This book is hard to put down. It is a new New Zealand nature book that details all the animals you might encounter on a road trip from north to south. The Naughty Kids’ Book of Nature does not only focus on our famous animals like the kiwi and tuatara  but also daddy long -legs, rats, possums and worms. I love the colour illustrations and reading about the history of these creatures. You will learn something new for sure. I am not convinced about the title though?  The blurb on the book explains naughty kids want to know about squashed hedgehogs and dead pukeko and see blood and guts . I think anyone will enjoy this, naughty or otherwise.

White Cloud Station #6: Horse Magic by Trudy Nicholson

Very good. 5 stars.

Review by Elena of Northland