2023 Storylines Notable Book Award winners announced

Storylines Children’s Literature Trust Te Whare Waituhi Tamariki o Aotearoa has announced the 2023 Storylines Notable Book Award winners.

This year’s winners are:

Nonfiction

• Critters of Aotearoa: 50 bizarre but lovable members of our wildlife community (Nicola Toki & Lily Duval, PRH NZ)
• Good Sports: A storybook of Kiwi sports heroes (Stuart Lipshaw, PRH NZ)
• Mangō: Sharks and rays of Aotearoa (Ned Barraud, Te Papa Press)
• My First Words about Tikanga Māori (Stacey Morrison & Kurawaka Productions, PRH NZ)
• The Observologist: A handbook for mounting very small scientific expeditions (Giselle Clarkson, Gecko)
• Patu: The New Zealand wars (Gavin Bishop, PRH NZ)
• Those Magnificent Voyagers of the Pacific (Andrew Crowe & Rick Fisher, Bateman Books)
• Tuatara, a Living Treasure (Katie Furze & Ned Barraud, Scholastic NZ)
• Ultrawild: An audacious plan to rewild every city on Earth (Steve Mushin, A&U)
• Wot Knot You Got? Mophead’s guide to life (Selina Tusitala Marsh, Auckland University Press)

Te Reo Māori

• He Mahi Taunga Kore (Linda Tuhiwai Smith & Isobel Joy Te Aho-White, Huia Publishers)
• He Reo Iti Noa Ahau (Linda Tuhiwai Smith & Isobel Joy Te Aho-White, Huia Publishers)
• Ka Wehi Au Ki Ngā Wenerei (Linda Tuhiwai Smith & Isobel Joy Te Aho-White, Huia Publishers)
• Ko Ngā Whetū Takirua o Matariki, Ko Waitī rāua ko Waitā (Miriama Kamo & Zak Waipara, trans by Ariana Stevens, Scholastic NZ)
• Ko Tama me te Taniwha (Melanie Koster & Monica Koster, trans by Pānia Papa, Scholastic NZ)
• Ko Te Wai, Ko Tama Me Te Marama (Linda Tuhiwai Smith & Isobel Joy Te Aho-White, Huia Publishers)
• Riwia me te Mātai Arorangi (Linda Tuhiwai Smith & Isobel Joy Te Aho-White, Huia Publishers)
• Te Rā Kura ki Aotearoa (Donovan Bixley, trans by Darryn Joseph, Upstart Press)
• Tōku Whānau Rerehua—My beautiful family (Rauhina Cooper & Isobel Joy Te Aho-White, Oratia Books)

Young adult

• Catch a Falling Star (Eileen Merriman, PRH NZ)
• The Edge of Light: New dawning (AM Dixon, OneTree House)
• Flying and Falling (Lynda Tomalin, GlitterInk Press)
• The Impossible Story of Hannah Kemp (Leonie Agnew, Walker Books Australia)
• Iris and Me (Philippa Werry, The Cuba Press)
• The Other Brother (Jax Calder, OneTree House)
• The Sparrow (Tessa Duder, PRH NZ)

Junior fiction

• Below (David Hill, PRH NZ)
• Children of the Rush Book 2 (James Russell, Dragon Brothers Books)
• The Hudson, the Hunt & the Helicopter (Joan Joass, Copy Press Books)
• Jason Mason and the Flightless Bird Fiasco (Jason Gunn & Andrew Gunn, Bateman Books)
• Like the Wind (J L Williams, Ocean Echo Books)
• Lopini the Legend (Feana Tu‘akoi, Scholastic NZ)
• Once Upon a Wickedness (Fleur Beale & Lily Uivel, PRH NZ)
• Pipi and Pou and the Tentacles of the Deep (Tim Tipene & Isobel Joy Te Aho-White, OneTree House)
• RockyBottoms! Big Little Blue Book 2 (Raymond McGrath, Scholastic NZ)
• Tūī Street Legends (Anne Kayes & Craig Phillips, Wildling Books)

Picture books

• At the Bach (Joy Cowley & Hilary Jean Tapper, Gecko)
• Dazzlehands (Sacha Cotter & Josh Morgan, Huia Publishers)
• Duck Goes Meow (Juliette MacIver & Carla Martell, Scholastic NZ)
• E Oma, Rāpeti: Pō Mārie / Run, Rabbit: Goodnight (Norah Wilson & Kimberly Andrews, trans by Pānia Papa, Scholastic NZ)
• Grandpa’s Dashing Dessert (Tania Sickling & Lael Chisholm, Scholastic NZ)
• Granny McFlitter’s Eggcellent Easter (Heather Haylock & Lael Chisholm, PRH NZ)
• The Great Kiwi School Day (Donovan Bixley, Upstart Press)
• Lucy and the Dark (Melinda Szymanik & Vasanti Unka, PRH NZ)
• Matariki (Gavin Bishop, PRH NZ)
• Tama and the Taniwha (Melanie Koster & Monica Koster, Scholastic NZ).

Two additional books were highly commended: in the nonfiction category, Pasifika Navigators—Pasifika student poetry (with illustrator Darcy Solia, Mila’s Books), and in the junior fiction category, Caged (Susan Brocker, Scholastic NZ).

The Storylines Notable Book Award lists feature ‘the ten best New Zealand books published in the latest year in each genre, that will inspire tamariki and rangatahi and their whanau to share and enjoy reading’. The Storylines Trust described the lists as ‘excellent reading and buying guides for anyone wanting to encourage young people to read for pleasure and information’.

Books published in the previous 12 months are selected for the lists. Judging panels include teachers, booksellers, authors, academics, and librarians.

Storylines Trust chair Christine Young described this year’s lists as ‘impressive’, with ‘excellent books in all categories’. ‘Clearly the commitment from New Zealand publishers and authors to producing quality books for young people remains strong,’ said Young. ‘It is so important that our tamariki and rangatahi enjoy reading—and equally important that they have access to high-quality books that reflect and broaden their experience of growing up in New Zealand.’

Category: Awards