2025 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young AdultsLike this list

33 items

• 2025 Awards Shortlist | New Zealand Book Awards Trust

  View on nzbookawards.nz

• The Treaty of Waitangi

  Te Tiriti O Waitangi

  Calman, Ross, 1971-

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  Maragret Mahy Book of the Year. Elsie Locke Award for Non-Fiction - Winner. "Ross Calman introduces this book by acknowledging that history is not one but many stories, told by a multiplicity of voices, each with their own cultural, political, and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Titiro Look

  Look

  Bishop, Gavin, 1946-

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  Bookhub Picture Book Award - Winner. "This deceptively simple, beautifully produced board book is an absorbing exploration of reo Māori and reo Pākehā. A representatively diverse whānau member and a favourite toy gaze out from each spread, inviting…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Detective Beans & the Case of the Missing Hat

  Chen, Li, 1986-

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  Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award for Junior Fiction - Winner. "Detective Beans and the Case of the Missing Hat is a delightful feline-fuelled mystery where a kitty detective earnestly goes about trying to find his hat. This book is both…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Paradise Generation

  Thompson, Sanna

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  Young Adult Fiction Award - Winner. "This expertly crafted, very Wellington resistance narrative urges readers to think critically about where humanity is headed by probing ideas of autonomy, prioritisation of the ‘greater good’ and what happens…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Hineraukatauri me te ara pūoro

  Gray, Elizabeth (Author of Hineraukatauri me te ara puoro)

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  Russell Clark Award for Illustration - Winner. Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu Awards for a Book Originally Written in Te Reo Māori - Winner. "He mea tiki atu ngā kupu kei te kōrero o Hineraukatauri me Te Ara Pūoro i tētahi oriori. Mā te…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A Ariā me te atua o te kūmara

  te rerenga o Whānui

  Ihimaera, Witi, 1944-

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  Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu Awards for a Book Translated into Te Reo Māori -Winner. "He nui ngā mānuka ka takoto i mua i te aroaro o Ariā me ōna hoa i a rātou e kake ana i ngā whetū, e kimi ana i a Whānui, ā, māna e whakaora mai ngā…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Raven's Eye Runaways

  Mabey, Claire

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  NZSA Best First Book Award - Winner. Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award for Junior Fiction - Finalist. "Rich, atmospheric prose propels this beautifully-inked fantasy quest, set in a medieval realm in which reading and writing are…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Beddy-bye Time in the Kōwhai Tree

  MacIver, Juliette, 1972-

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  Bookhub Picture Book Award - Finalist. "This quintessentially Kiwi romp captures the fun and chaos of getting a wee one to bed. The whimsical tale, told using clever rhyme, counting in threes, and with a sprinkling of kupu Māori, is complemented by…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Mataali'i

  Malaeulu, Dahlia

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  Bookhub Picture Book Award - Finalist. "Fetū is the youngest sister of heavenly-appointed guardians, and her only job is to be the heart of the family. But what good is her love, when her siblings keep turning into stars? Deftly interwoven with…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Ten Nosey Weka

  Preece, Kate

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  Bookhub Picture Book Award - Finalist. "This charmingly illustrated and playful trilingual counting rhyme follows a bunch of cheeky weka on their Rēkohu adventures. Numbers and simple nouns in ta rē Moriori, te reo Māori and English are followed by…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• You Can't Pat a Fish

  Paul, Ruth, 1964-

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  Bookhub Picture Book Award - Finalist. Russell Clark Award for Illustration - Finalist. "After a disappointing visit to the pet shop, an unimpressed child has to come to terms with her new, wet pet. Skilfully rhymed, with playful humour and modern,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Brown Bird

  Arthur, Jane (Poet)

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  Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award for Junior Fiction - Finalist. "Eleven-year-old Rebecca is a shy introvert, desperate to go unnoticed. All that changes when a new friend comes to stay for the summer. A gentle and poignant examination of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Apprentice Witnesser

  MacDibble, Bren

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  Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award for Junior Fiction - Finalist. "In a post-apocalyptic world, plagues have swept away everything that was once familiar and knowledge is being reborn in the hands of ‘witnessers’. Hoping to join their ranks…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Case of the Missing Stuff

  King, Rachael, 1970-

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  Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award for Junior Fiction - Finalist. "Violet Grumble is putting aside her performance (and social) anxiety, picking up a guitar and starting a band. But when stuff starts to go missing, band rivalry tensions…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Bear

  Lightfoot, Kiri

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  Young Adult Fiction Award - Finalist. "The world seems determined to test Jasper Robinson-Woods. There’s his too-long name, his mum’s stupid boyfriend, his glaringly absent Dad, and his dying goldfish. Worst of all, there’s a creature lurking in his…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Gracehopper

  Hager, Mandy, 1960-

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  Young Adult Fiction Award - Finalist. "Grace’s life has been a series of earthquakes, right from the day she was born. Grace is trying to navigate these tremors when her best friend Charlie returns, and secrets of the past are finally confronted. A…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Migration

  Matuku, Steph

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  Young Adult Fiction Award - Finalist. "Desperate to escape both her planet and her Mum, Farah’s chosen destiny is Western Wānanga interplanetary military school. But Farah will have to test herself, and explore who she really is and what she wants…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Mess of Our Lives

  Scott, Mary-Anne, 1960-

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  Young Adult Fiction Award - Finalist. "How do you make sense of your own life when you are drowning in someone else’s mess? Jordan Baxter‘s mum is an extreme hoarder, and he and his sister Tabitha are trapped by her affliction and neglect. This…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Black Magic

  the Inspiring Story of Why Aotearoa Sports Teams Wear Black With a Silver Fern

  Riley, David, 1966 June 28-

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  Elsie Locke Award for Non-Fiction - Finalist. "The fascinating history behind the black uniforms with silver ferns that are worn by Aotearoa’s sportspeople is told in an engaging narrative, which will capture the interest of sports lovers and…Read moreRead more of this annotation