The annual Storylines Notable Books list, representing the very best books for children and young adult published in the last twelve months, has been released by the Storylines Children’s Literature Trust Te Whare Waituhi Tamariki o Aotearoa.
“Congratulations to all the creators and publishers of this year’s award winners”, says Storylines Trust chair, Christine Young. “These are impressive lists of excellent books in all categories, testament to the strength of local children’s and young adult publishing.
“The Junior Fiction Notable Books are an especially strong and varied selection this year. Many are laugh-out-loud funny, while others prompt thought and contemplation. It’s great to see experienced authors Stacy Gregg, Leonie Agnew and James Russell alongside debut authors, such as Claire Mabey and Shelly Burne-Field. And equally pleasing that popular series continue to stand out, with previous books featuring in the 2023 lists.
“In picture books, the illustrations are as important as the text and the judges noted that all those awarded showed ‘interesting layout, good technical ability, and those little extras in the illustrations that go beyond just reflecting the text”.
“This year we received a relatively high number of activity books that were successful in becoming a Storylines Notable Book. Each of these was different, with depth of content offering wide appeal to families, kura, and the young readers themselves while also learning more about the seashore, backyard, or one’s culture.
”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. All the books listed this year will do that.”
The Non-fiction genre was also considered particularly strong, judges impressed with the overall production quality and variety of interesting topics, including New Zealand fauna, explorers, wellbeing and activity books. Many of the books are suitable across wide age ranges and reading environments: family home, schools and kura with educators. Quality of illustrations, use of te reo Māori and richness of language made many of the books worthy of selection.
With only a small number of young adult novels submitted, just two have been named Storylines Notable books.
Storylines Notable Books for 2024 cover books published from 16 November 2023 to 15 November 2024. They are selected in five genres (picture books, junior fiction, young adult, non-fiction and books in te reo Māori) by expert panels of teachers, booksellers, authors, academics, and librarians from across the country.
The lists provide excellent reading and buying guides for anyone wanting to encourage young people read for pleasure and information.
