Read the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults Shortlist

The New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults Finalists have been announced. Read them now!

Colorful banner with paint splashes announcing “Best Books of the Year for Young NZ Readers – 2026 Finalists Announced!” and the New Zealand Book Awards logo.

Want to read the titles featured in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults? Click on a title to place a hold on it through our catalogue.

BookHub Picture Book Award
A Guide to Rocks by Sacha Cotter
Koro Wētā by Heather Haylock
Left to Nowhere by Ian Chapman
Pūkeko Who-Keko? by Toby Morris 
The Only Dinosaur in School by Leonie Agnew 

Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award for Junior Fiction 
Detective Stanley and the Mystery at the Museum by Hannah Tunnicliffe 
Dreamslinger by Graci Kim 
Kimi the Kekeno’s Big Adventure by Shelley Burne-Field (Ngāti Mutanga, Ngāti Rārua)
The Terrible Trio 1: The (not so) Superheroes by Swapna Haddow 
Violet and the Velvets 2: The Case of the Angry Ghost by Rachael King

Wheelers Books Award for Young Adult Fiction
Hiva & Heartbeats by Selina Alesana Alefosio
It’s a Bit More Complicated Than That by Hannah Marshall 
Spider Games: In the City of Spies by Brian Falkner 
The Lost Saint by Rachael Craw 
The Retreat by Helen Vivienne Fletcher 

Elsie Locke Award for Non-Fiction Hooked: Learning to Fish by Al Brown
Omnibird: An Avian Investigator’s Handbook by Giselle Clarkson
Survive Aotearoa by Bronwen Wall and Jonathan Kennett 
Taniwha by Gavin Bishop (Tainui, Ngāti Awa) 
Whenua: Māori Pūrākau of Aotearoa by Isobel Joy Te Aho-White (Ngāti Kahungunu, Kāi Tahu) 

Russell Clark Award for IllustrationAt Home on the Farm by Ned Barraud
Folk Remedy 1: The Hidden World of the Yōkai by Jem Yoshioka
Kupe and the Great Octopus of Muturangi by Mat Tait (Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō, Ngāti Kuia, Rangitāne o Wairau) 
Taniwha by Gavin Bishop (Tainui, Ngāti Awa) 
Whenua: Māori Pūrākau of Aotearoa by Isobel Joy Te Aho-White (Ngāti Kahungunu, Kāi Tahu)

Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu Awards for Te Reo Māori
He Taonga te Toka by Sacha Cotter
Kupe me te Wheke nui a Muturangi by Mat Tait (Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō, Ngāti Kuia, Rangitāne o Wairau)
Matariki ki te Ao by Miriama Kamo (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Mutunga) and Rangi Matamua (Tūhoe)
Taku Ikura Tuatahi by Qiane Matata-Sipu (Te Waiohua, Waikato, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Pikiao) 
Te Onehaumako by Zeb Tamihana Nicklin (Pāhauwera, Ruapani, Tūhoe, Tāmanuhiri)