New Zealand Children's Book Awards finalists

A great crop of children's books last year has resulted in a 20-strong shortlist over four categories for this year's children's book awards. Five first-time authors and illustrators have made the shortlist of the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards.

The awards ceremony will be held at Parliament on March 27, and will be the culmination of a week-long festival of children's books-related activities around the country.

Coinciding with the awards, the Children's Literature Foundation has announced two awards of its own.

Maurice Gee wins the Margaret Mahy Medal and Lecture Award and David Hill takes the Gaelyn Gordon Award for a Much-Loved Book, for his 1992 novel See Ya, Simon.

Senior Fiction

Jolt by Bernard Beckett (Longacre)

Kalik by Jack Lasenby (Longacre)

Owl by Joanna Orwin (Longacre)

Return to One Foot Island by Graeme Lay (Penguin)

Tiggie Tompson All At Sea by Tessa Duder (Puffin)


Junior Fiction

Ambushed by Fleur Beale (Scholastic)

Knocked for Six by Alison Robertson (Scholastic)

Recycled by Sandy McKay (Longacre)

The Riddle of the Frozen Phantom by Margaret Mahy (HarperCollins)

The Weather-Makers by Shirley Corlett (Scholastic)


Non-Fiction

Fibonacci's Cows by Ray Galvin (Shortland)

I am a Spider by Simon Pollard (Ree)

The Plight of the Penguin by Lloyd Spencer Davis (Longacre)

The Reed Maori Picture Dictionary by Margaret Sinclair, Ross Calman and Dale Tutill (Reed)

Which New Zealand Bird? by Andrew Crowe and Dave Gunson (Penguin)


Picture Books

Brodie by Joy Cowley and Chris Mousdale (Scholastic)

Grandpa's Shorts by Joy Watson and Wendy Hodder (Scholastic)

Scarface Claw by Lynley Dodd (Mallinson Rendell)

The Last Whale/Te Tohora Whakamutunga by Rene Hapimarika van de Weert and Anton Petrov (Reed)

Tom Thumb by Gavin Bishop (Random House)