Bibliofemme News

Making the announcement last week, Bob Kerr, convenor of the judging panel, said that the high standard of writing in this year's entries made it difficult to select the finalists and proves that the children's literature scene in New Zealand is in excellent health.

Kerr and fellow judges - popular singer and entertainer, Jackie Clarke, and children's bookseller, Julie Harper - have been wading through the 123 submissions to find the best children's books published in New Zealand during the calendar year of 2004.

There are four categories - Picture Book, Non Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, and Junior Fiction. The winner of each category is awarded $5,000 and the opportunity to win the supreme award, the New Zealand Post Book of the Year worth an extra $5,000. The winners will be announced on Thursday 19 May.

The awards are voted for by the reading public giving children and teenagers in New Zealand the opportunity to vote for their favourite book and schools and libraries will be taking the opportunity to encourage their students to read and review the finalists.

Picture Book finalists: Clubs: A Lolly Leopold Story by Kate De Goldi, illustrated by Jacqui Colley (Trapeze); Koro's Medicine by Melanie Drewery, illustrated by Sabrina Malcolm (Huia Publishers); The Night Kite: Poems for Children by Peter Bland, illustrated by Carl Bland (Mallinson Rendel); The Other Ark by Lynley Dodd (Mallinson Rendel) and Taming the Sun: Four Maori Myths by Gavin Bishop (Random House New Zealand).

Non Fiction finalists: From Weta to Kauri: A Guide to the New Zealand Forest by Janet Hunt; photography by Rob Lucas (Random House New Zealand); Everything You Need to Know About the World by Simon Eliot by Lloyd Jones, illustrated by Timon Maxey (Four Winds Press); The Life-Size Guide to the New Zealand Beach by Andrew Crowe (Penguin Books); John Britten: The Boy who did do Better by Jennifer Beck (Scholastic) and Welcome to the South Seas: Contemporary New Zealand Art for Young People by Gregory O'Brien (Auckland University Press).

Junior Fiction finalists: Aunt Effie and the Island that Sank by Jack Lasenby (Longacre Press); Beyond the Shroud (Book Two - The Karazan Quartet) by V M Jones (HarperCollins Publishers); My Story: A New Song in the Land - The Writings of Atapo, Paihia, c.1840 by Fleur Beale (Scholastic); Walking Lightly by Fleur Beale, illustrations by Michaela Sangl (Mallinson Rendel); and You've Got Guts, Kenny Melrose by Shirley Corlett (Scholastic).

Young Adult Fiction finalists: Coming Back by David Hill (Mallinson Rendel); Dark by Penelope Todd (Longacre Press); Malcolm and Juliet by Bernard Beckett (Longacre Press); Out of Tune by Joanna Orwin (Longacre Press) and Robert Moran - Private by Ken Catran (Lothian Books).

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