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News  •  10 June 2024

 

2024 NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults Finalists

The NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults are a unique celebration of the contribution New Zealand’s children’s authors and illustrators make to building national identity and cultural heritage.

Picture Book Award

Lucy and the Dark by Melinda Szymanik

 

Esther Glen Junior Fiction Award

Nine Girls by Stacy Gregg​ Take Me to Your Leader by Leonie Agnew​

Young Adult Fiction Award

Catch a Falling Star by Eileen Merriman​ The Sparrow by Tessa Duder

 

Elsie Locke Award for Nonfiction & the Russell Clark Award for Illustration

Patu: The New Zealand Wars by Gavin Bishop

 

A ceremony to announce the winners will be held on Wednesday 14 August. For more information and the full list of finalists, see the award website.

Featured Titles

Lucy and the Dark
When Lucy makes friends with the Dark she discovers a new and exciting world - but the world is about to discover what it's like without the Dark! A funny and enjoyable bedtime story with a glow-in-the dark cover to encourage lights out!
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Nine Girls
Nine Girls is a page-turning adventure from Stacy Gregg, one of Aotearoa’s most internationally successful and locally awarded writers.
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Take Me to Your Leader
Can Lucas pull off staging an alien encounter and save his tiny country school from closure? A madcap novel by an award-winning author for readers 8 years and older.
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Catch a Falling Star
Jamie Orange is careening out of control the closer he comes within reach of his dreams - the powerful, frenetic, heart-stopping winner of three YA fiction awards!
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The Sparrow
A powerful new historical novel from one of New Zealand’s best-loved YA authors
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Patu
A large-format, stunning visual history of the New Zealand Wars of the 1800s, suitable for children and adults, by the multiple-award-winning Gavin Bishop
Read more

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