Sophia and Petra review the New Zealand Book Awards finalists!

New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults (NZCYA)

Reviewed by Petra and Sophia

On Monday 5th August 30 book loving students from years 5-8 went to meet some of the New Zealand Book Award finalists. Some of the authors we meet were: Eirlys Hunter who wrote 'The Mapmakers’ Race',  Steph Matuku who wrote 'Whetū Toa and the Magician', Sarah Pepperle wrote a fun non-fiction activity book based on the Christchurch Art Gallery called 'Art-tastic' , 'Cook’s Cook: The Cook who Cooked for Captain Cook' was written and illustrated by Gavin Bishop and 'Bullseye Bella' was written by James T Guthrie.  We were extremely lucky to be able to meet Josh Morgan who illustrated 'The Bomb' written by Sacha Cotter. This book explores kids and families doing water bombs around New Zealand and it comes with a catchy song. 

Here is some student voice:

“I enjoyed learning about their journeys and the progress that they made” - Annabelle

“My favorite author was Steph Matuku, she wrote “Whetū Toa and the Magician” - James

“My favorite author was Steph Matuku because she read some of her book, this made me want to know more and read her 1st book. I also enjoyed learning the process of bookmaking and adding illustrations to books. I was surprised how long a book takes to make, especially a picture book - 1 year!” - Petra

“ It was very educational, I learned a lot. It was very interesting to find out the progress of making a book”- Jeremie

If you ever get a chance to go to the New Zealand Book Awards we can assure you that you will have a book-tastic time!

If you want to find out more about the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults have a look at this link and go to the 2019 awards tab.