Giselle Clarkson
Gecko Press
Genre: Illustrated

Have you seen a bird today? Probably, unless you’re reading this in bed. Did you notice what was really interesting about that the bird? Investigating a bird is like solving a puzzle. To gather all the pieces, you look for clues: meet the omnibird.

An omnibird shares the basics of all birdlife: it was born from an egg, has feathers, two legs, a beak and gizzard, perhaps a premium feature like spurs or a curuncle. Knowing the omnibird gives you a case file of information to investigate any bird. You’ll be expert at finding extraordinary things around you, just by looking.

Omnibird investigates 18 common birds from habitats around the world—eagles, owls and seabirds, starlings, ducks and swans. Explore the incredible internal structure of bird bones, learn what a gizzard stone is for, find the fascinating in bird calls, bird poop, feathers, and flight patterns.

Now you’re an omnibird expert, you’ll look at every bird in new ways every day.

Kat Quin
Illustrated Publishing
Genre: Illustrated

Celebrate 10 years of Kuwi & Friends with this beautifully presented Kuwi the Kiwi Treasury. Featuring all five of Kuwi’s bestselling adventures, along with glimpses into Kat Quin’s artistic and storymaking process. The Kuwi collection is a true treasure trove of stunning, simple, and playful stories for young readers. While every story shines on its own, together they create a wonderfully cohesive and captivating collection.

Stories included: Kuwi’s First Egg, Kuwi’s Huhu Hunt, Kuwi’s Very Shiny Bum, Kuwi’s Rowdy Crowd and Kuwi’s Fluey Huwi.

Phillip Pullman
Penguin
Genre: Fiction (Fantasy)

‘Lyra: what will you do when you find this place in the desert, the opening to the world of the roses?’
‘Defend it,’ Lyra said. ‘Die defending it.’

When readers left Lyra in The Secret Commonwealth she was alone, in the ruins of a deserted city. Pantalaimon had run from her – part of himself – in search of her imagination, which he believed she had lost. Lyra travelled across the world from her Oxford home in search of her dæmon. And Malcolm, loyal Malcolm, too journeyed far from home, towards the Silk Roads in search of Lyra . . .

In The Rose Field, their quests converge in the most dangerous, breathtaking and world-changing ways. They must take help from spies and thieves, gryphons and witches, old friends and new, learning all the while the depth and surprising truths of the alethiometer. All around them, the world is aflame – made terrifying by fear, power and greed.

As they move East, towards the red building that will reunite them and give them answers – on Dust, on the special roses, on imagination – so too does the Magisterium, at war against all that Lyra holds dear.

Marking thirty years since the world was first introduced to Pullman’s remarkable heroine Lyra Belacqua in Northern Lights, The Rose Field is the culmination of the cultural phenomenon of The Book of Dust and His Dark Materials.

James Islington
Simon & Schuster
Genre: Fiction (Sci-Fi)

The Hierarchy still call me Vis Telimus. Still hail me as Catenicus. They still, as one, believe they know who I am.

But with all that has happened--with what I fear is coming--I am not sure it matters anymore.

I am no longer one. I won the Iudicium, and lost everything--and now, impossibly, the ancient device beyond the Labyrinth has replicated me across three separate worlds. A different version of myself in each of Obiteum, Luceum, and Res. Three different bodies, three different lives. I have to hide; fight; play politics. I have to train; trust; lie. I have to kill; heal; prove myself again, and again, and again.

I am loved, and hated, and entirely alone.

Above all, though, I need to find answers before it's too late. To understand the nature of what has happened to me, and why.

I need to find a way to stop the coming Cataclysm, because if all I have learned is true, I may be the only one who can.

Heather McQuillan
Cloud Ink Press
Genre: Fiction (YA)

Life is already unfair for 15-year-old Mariana. Her father's missing and her activist mother is dead. Marooned with her grandparents in the cyclone-wrecked South Island, life is dominated by Carapace, a corrupt corporation. When Mariana wears a red dress to her new school, she breaks an obscure rule and puts her family at risk.

Mariana yearns to stand up for her friend Filiki, who's trapped in Carapace's school-to-prison pipeline. Fear keeps her silent. When Mariana finally speaks up, it's to disastrous effect and puts everyone she loves in danger.

As she confronts her fears, Mariana must make her voice heard-because this time it might change everything.

Truth Needs No Colour is a haunting novel about the difference one voice can make.

Stacey Teague
Te Herenga Waka University Press
Genre: Poetry

​you see a photo of yourself / pressed behind plastic / three years old in a white skivvy

In Plastic, Stacey Teague reaches beyond the frame of her known world to find a way back to te ao Māori. Hers is a complicated, joyful route, full of conversations with ancestors, old places and herself. In form these poems range from plain-speaking prose and concrete poetry to odes and spells; in mood they are just as restless, taking in those times when life feels as big as a movie screen and times when it is more like ‘a loose stone to kick down the path’.

Gathered here are names that travel through time, failed photos of the moon, and love like a feather in the throat. There are encounters with Hine-te-iwaiwa, the bird-woman Kurangaituku, Hine-nui-te-pō, and Hinemoana as she erodes the land with her wildness. This whole-hearted collection shows us how many ways there are to search for one’s bones and at last get to know them.

Swapna Haddow & Minky Stapleton
One Tree House
Genre: Junior

In a world where all animals have superpowers, cafe workers Zeb the zebra, Margarine the penguin and Barry the lemur have been given the worst powers of all.

Watching all the other superheroes save the world, day in and day out, Zeb, Margarine and Barry wonder if they will ever get to be superheroes for a day themselves.

The first in a terrible, terrific, funny and heartwarming new series by award-winning children’s author, Swapna Haddow, hilariously illustrated by Minky Stapleton.

The (Not So) Superheroes (The Terrible Trio #1) invites readers into an exciting and humorous adventure, combining comedy with a hint of warmth and inspiration, perfect for those who love a good laugh and charming characters.