Children's Books > NZ 5-8 years

Friends - everyone's got them, even if they don't always get along with them all the time! Friendship is a universal theme for Kiwi kids and this year's collection of 30 stories covers a range of situations: being the new kid at school, competition between friends, learning to get along with people who are different, and finding friends in unexpected places. Contributors include popular names such as David Hill, John Parker, Emma Neale and Val Bird, as well as some new writers, each with their own entertaining story to tell. As wit... read more

One day a little boy named Brody starts at a new school. Brody has special needs and this story tells how his classmates come to realise that "It's OK to be different!"

Mac lives at Mount Gladstone in Marlborough. Mustering sheep, cattle and deer is Mac's life-long job. Join Mac at work in this glimpse into high country farm life. Story in rhyme based on the work of one of the author’s high country working dogs.

Retold by Apirana Mahuika

When a fox steals a chicken from her friends, her friends set out to rescue her. They negotiate forests, climb mountains and cross the sea to get her back. But it becomes perfectly clear that chicken and fox love each other, as chicken explains most eloquently - in this picture book without words. First published in France as Le voleur de poule this English edition first published in Australia and New Zealand in 2009.

Based on a true story, this beautiful book tells the tale of Sophia, a Maori guide on Lake Tarawera. Sophia’s job was to show tourists the Pink and White Terraces – known as the eighth wonder of the world.Nine days before the eruption of Mt Tarawera a group of tourists claimed to see a waka vanish on the lake. When the volcano erupted, on 10 June 1886, Sophia’s village of Te Wairoa was almost completely covered in ash. Only Sophia’s home and one other building survived. The beautiful terraces were destroyed. First published... read more

This delightful picturebook tells the tale of three quirky whitebait friends - Whitey, Freddy and Tere - and their lifetime struggle to survive their home-bound journey. Having avoided being eaten at the egg-stage by predator mice (who think whitebait are chocolate) they leave behind the coastal waters of Aotearoa and head inland. But after the 15th August they have an upstream battle. They suddenly become morsels and fritters. If they survive the human fritter craze, slimy under-water things watch them closely. Then Freddy suddenl... read more

A pendant. A prophecy. A race against time. Breaking free of the earth, the massive bird shudders as if awakening from a long slumber… Stuck in Wisconsin, Annie is homesick. But when a giant eagle flies her home to New Zealand, it's a thousand years too early and a battle is brewing between the birds. Can Annie and her friends help the flightless overcome the ambitious raptor, Te Hokioi? Will gentle Moa survive to live on in history? And will Annie make it back to Wisconsin?

Mum is having a baby, Sage is asking a million questions and Saffron's eccentric and peculiar aunties have just arrived from Argentina. But that's OK, because Saffron has everything under control. If speeding Tuk Tuks and collapsing cathedrals don't cause enough mayhem, Saffron must also cope with the arrival of a new member of the family. With its outspoken heroine and unique illustrations, this is a rollicking sequel to Victoria M. Azaro's Saffron.

Shot down off the coast of Germany, Pohe was held prisoner at Stalag Luft III, near Sagan in present-day Poland. Digging a tunnel under the camp, Pohe was one of the prisoners who escaped in a mass breakout which was immortalised in the film The Great Escape.

Times are tough, and when Mum sends Trev off to the market to sell his bike, she is disgusted when he comes home with a handful of seeds and chucks them out the window. Next morning, Trev is amazed to see a giant kauri tree has grown up beside the house and at the top of the tree he finds a taniwha's lair ...Humorous Kiwi version of Jack and the Beanstalk in which Mum resolves the problem at the end with her trusty chainsaw!

From the time a tiny puriri moth's egg falls onto the forest floor, this book follows the life cycle of that moth - Pepetuna. For five years Pepetuna hides in the puriri tree, eating and sleeping until the time is right. Then one warm spring evening, he pushes a hole through the door of his home. He crawls out with his strong new legs and breathes the fresh air. Then he stretches out his beautiful new wings, ready to fly up into the moonlight ...just one night.

Two very different creatures learn the give-and-take of friendship in these warm and funny stories set in the desert. Snake and Lizard are a lovable, foolish pair, always arguing, embarking on unlikely enterprises and telling one another hotly contested tales - none of which behaviour lessens their affection for one another. This book was the winner of the Junior Fiction Category, and winner of the New Zealand Post Book of the Year Award 2008.

Poor Mrs McGinty finds life a burden until one day, in her garden, a mysterious plant begins to grow... First published in 1981, this book is a classic for which Gavin Bishop won the Russell Clark Medal.

This treasury contains stories from some of our best-loved writing for children. You will find all kinds of writing - picture books, poems, shiort stories and extracts from longer stories. A book to give hours of reading pleasure for the whole family.

A beautifully presented children's picture flat telling the story of Maraea, an elderly Maori woman living in a coastal community.The site of the kainga is also next to an albatross colony, and there are close (and fabulously illustrated) links between the people and the birds. But people are drifting to the cities and the community is falling apart. Soon only Maraea is left on the clifftop, looking out to sea to welcome the birds. And soon even Maraea passes away, leaving only a rock on the site of her old sitting place on the cli... read more

A delightful and joyous collection of illustrated short stories for reading aloud to young children.This is Joy Cowley at her child-friendly best! With illustrations by Gavin Bishop.

Created by well-known children's writer and illustrator Gavin Bishop, this is the story of a little white kiwi. When he is born his mother doesn't recognise him because he's not brown. Little Kiwi looks to the moon as his mother instead because it is white and bright and round. In the background of this story we see the changing times of a nearby pa. Through illustrations only we see intertribal warfare, the death of the chief, English soldiers arriving and then the burning of the pa. This fire spreads and the two stories become on... read more

Translated by Katerina Mataira, Whakaeke I Nga Ngaru is the Maori edition of Riding the Waves. A sequel or companion book to Taming the Sun, Gavin Bishop's latest stunning book contains four more Maori myths, including two well-known legends (Maui finds his family and Maui and the goddess of fire) and two less well-known legends (Hatupatu and the birdwoman and Rata and his waka). Aimed at children with reading ages 3-7 years, these myths are simply and yet elegantly written. Gavin's characteristic sense of humour is evident in al... read more