Looking for a great book by a New Zealander, for business (NCEA) or pleasure (it just makes you happy to read a good book)? Look no further than this very list, with approximately 38 of our fave New Zealand YA titles, hand-selected for their delicious use of language and gripping, yet relatably Kiwi, narratives. You can find a much deeper exploration of Māori authors over on this list, so be sure to check it out as well.
Last updated October 2021
Draw me a hero / Ashworth, N. K. (2020)
- I am not Esther (sequels) / Beale, Fleur (1998)
- Genesis / Beckett, Bernard (2006)
- In the dark spaces / Black, Cally (2017)
- Earth dragon, fire hare / Catran, Ken (2012)
- The 10pm question / de Goldi, Kate (2009)
Because everything is right but everything is wrong / Donohue, Erin (2017)
- Alex : the quartet / Duder, Tessa (2019)
- The tomorrow code / Falkner, Brian (2008)
- Salt (series) / Gee, Maurice (2007)
- The severed land / Gee, Maurice (2017)
These violent delights / Gong, Chloe (2020)
- The crossing (series) / Hager, Mandy (2010)
- When we wake / Healey, Karen (2013)
- Legacy / Hereaka, Whiti (2018)
- Coastwatcher / Hill, David (2021)
- The bone people / Hulme, Keri (1983)
Juggling with mandarins / Jones, V. M. (2003)
- The raging quiet / Jordan, Sherryl (1999)
- In our own backyard / Kayes, Anne (2021)
- Red rocks / King, Rachael (2012)
- The pōrangi boy / Kino, Shilo (2020)
- Mortal fire / Knox, Elizabeth (2013)
Evie’s war / Mackenzie, Anna (2015)
- The magician of Hoad / Mahy, Margaret (2008)
- The tricksters / Mahy, Margaret (1986)
- Flight of the fantail / Matuku, Steph (2018)
- Invisibly breathing / Merriman, Eileen (2019)
- The tattooist of Auschwitz / Morris, Heather (2018)
Ursa / Shaw, Tina (2019)
- Dawn raid / Smith, Pauline Vaelua (2018)
- Cuz / Van der Laarse, Liz (2018)
- The traitor and the thief (series) / Ward, Gareth (2017)
- The telegram / Werry, Philippa (2019)
Night vision / West, Ella (2014)
- Aspiring / Wilkins, Damien (2020)
- Telesā (series) / Young, Lani Wendt (2011)
- Afakasi woman / Young, Lani Wendt (2019)