The winners for New Zealand Post Children’s Book awards

Book of The Year, Best Young Adult Fiction – Ted Dawes, Into the River (self-published)

Best Non-Fiction – Simon Morton and Riria Hotere, 100 Amazing Tales from Aotearoa (Te Papa Press).

Best Junior Fiction – David Hill, My Brother’s War (Penguin Group NZ).

Best Picture Book – Margaret Mahy and Gavin Bishop, Mister Whistler (Gecko press).

Best First Book – Hugh Brown, Reach (HarperCollins).

Children’s Choice – Kyle Mewburn, Ali Teo and John O’Reilly, Melu (Scholastic NZ).

Book award winner a favourite on bus

Puke Ariki’s mobile library toured Taranaki last week promoting the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards.

On board the bus was a selection of titles featuring this year’s finalists which were read to children at schools around the district.

A stuffed kiwi from Puke Ariki Museum had also hitched a ride.

Margaret Mahy and Gavin Bishop’s picture book finalist Mister Whistler was also popular.

Braedan Quilter-Phipps, 10, said the book was his favourite.

Josh Goble agreed: “Mister Whistler is a funny story,” the 9-year-old said.

They proved excellent judges, because it was last night named best picture book at the awards.

Lepperton School librarian Kathleen Smith said the regular visits from the Puke Ariki bus complemented the school library and offered more variety.”It’s great however the children are encouraged to read,” she said.

The children’s book award has been renamed the New Zealand Post Margaret Mahy Book of the Year, in honour of the author who died in July last year.

The ceremony to announce the winners was held in Mahy’s home town of Christchurch.

Taranaki author David Hill’s My Brother’s War won the junior fiction award and Ted Dawes’ Into The River won the best young adult fiction prize and was judged book of the year.

Sharyn Smart is a Witt journalism student

This article was published in The Taranaki Daily News on 25/6/2013