Finalists Announced

The finalists for the 2015 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults have been announced. Check out this awesome bunch of books!

Picture Books

• Construction, Sally Sutton and Brian Lovelock, Walker Books Australia
• I Am Not a Worm, Scott Tulloch, Scholastic New Zealand
• Jim’s Letters, Glyn Harper and Jenny Cooper, Penguin Random House
• Keys, Sasha Cotter and Joshua Morgan, Huia Publishers
• Little Red Riding Hood . . . Not Quite, Yvonne Morrison and Donovan Bixley, Scholastic New Zealand

Non-Fiction

• Ghoulish Get-Ups: How to Create Your Own Freaky Costumes, Fifi Colston, Scholastic New Zealand
• Māori Art for Kids, Julie Noanoa and Norm Heke, Craig Potton Publishing
• Mōtītī Blue and the Oil Spill, Debbie McCauley and Sarah Elworthy, Mauao Publishing
• The Book of Hat, Harriet Rowland, Makaro Press/Submarine
• Under the Ocean: explore & discover New Zealand’s sea life, Gillian Candler and Ned Barraud, Craig Potton Publishing

Junior Fiction

• Conrad Cooper’s Last Stand, Leonie Agnew, Penguin Random House/Puffin
• Dragon Knight: Fire!, Kyle Mewburn and Donovan Bixley, Scholastic New Zealand
• Monkey Boy, Donovan Bixley, Scholastic New Zealand
• The Island of Lost Horses, Stacy Gregg, HarperCollins
• The Pirates and the Nightmaker, James Norcliffe, Penguin Random House/Longacre Child

Young Adults

• I Am Rebecca, Fleur Beale, Penguin Random House
• Night Vision, Ella West, Allen & Unwin
• Recon Team Angel: Vengeance, Brian Falkner, Walker Books Australia
• Singing Home the Whale, Mandy Hager, Penguin Random House
• While We Run, Karen Healey, Allen & Unwin

Māori Language Award

• Hoiho Paku, Stephanie Thatcher and Ngaere Roberts, Scholastic New Zealand
• Nga Ki, Sasha Cotter and Joshua Morgan, Huia Publishers (translation ofKeys, a finalist in the Picture Book category)

This year we also have finalists for Children's Choice as selected by young readers themselves - a wonderful new development in these book awards.

Voting for the Children’s Choice opens on Tuesday, 9 June and closes on Friday, 31 July. This year there will be a winner in each category. Anyone 18 and under can go and vote here.

Children's Choice - Picture Books

• I am not a Worm by Scott Tulloch - Scholastic NZ
• Little Red Riding Hood ….Not Quite  by Yvonne Morrison & Donovan Bixley - Scholastic NZ
• The Anzac Puppy by Peter Millett & Trish Bowles - Scholastic NZ
• Doggy Ditties from A to Z by Jo van Dam & Myles Lawford - Scholastic NZ
• Marmaduke Duck on the Wide Blue Seas by Juliette MacIver & Sarah Davis - Scholastic NZ

Children's Choice - Junior Fiction

• Dragon Knight: Fire! by Kyle Mewburn & Donovan Bixley - Scholastic NZ
• The Island of Lost Horses by Stacy Gregg - HarperCollins
• How I Alienated My Grandma by Suzanne Main - Scholastic NZ
• 1914 - Riding into War by Susan Brocker - Scholastic NZ
• My New Zealand Story: Canterbury Quake by Desna Wallace - Scholastic NZ

Children's Choice - Non-fiction

• New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame: 25 Kiwi Champions by Maria Gill & Marco Ivancic - New Holland Publishers
• Maori Art for Kids by Julie Noanoa & Norm Heke - Craig Potton Publishing
• The Letterbox Cat & other poems by Paula Green & Myles Lawford - Scholastic NZ
• A New Zealand Nature Journal by Sandra Morris - Walker Books Australia
• Waitangi Day: The New Zealand Story by Philippa Werry - New Holland Publishers

Children's Choice - Young Adult Fiction

• I Am Rebecca by Fleur Beale - Penguin Random House NZ
• Night Vision by Ella West - Allen & Unwin
• Spark by Rachael Craw - Walker Books Australia
• Awakening by Natalie King - Penguin Random House
• The Red Suitcase by Jill Harris - Makaro Press

Winners will be revealed on August 13th at an Award Ceremony in Wellington.