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11 March 2026

Let's read! March giveaways

Our Māehe March Giveaways

To be in to win any of these titles, email us at communications@read-nz.org with GIVEAWAY and your chosen book title in the subject line, and your name and postal address in the email body.

Flying and Falling (paperback)

Lynda Tomalin
Glitter Ink Press
Genre: YA

Hollie is learning to live with depression.

She’s working hard to put the darkest days behind her. She’s got a job she loves, friends she cares about, and she’s coping. In fact, she’s doing pretty well.

Then a mysterious – and gorgeous – new boy shows up at school.

Jonathan is running away from his past.

Weighed down by a guilty secret, he’s fled to his aunt’s rural property under the guise of helping out on the farm.

As Hollie and Jonathan are unexpectedly thrown together, a growing mutual attraction scares and excites them.

But the past isn’t so easy to escape, and they both have to decide if it’s enough to keep hiding, from themselves and from each other.

Or can they risk hoping for more?

Hiva and Heartbeats (paperback)

Selina Alesana Alefosio
Mila's Books
Genre: Junior

Hiva & Heartbeats follows Epi, a Tokelau girl growing up in the colourful chaos of family gatherings, legacy, and big dreams in the nineties.

Through it all, it's hiva-traditional Tokelau dance-that keeps her grounded. As crushes get complicated and teen life throws its usual mix of drama, doubts, and decisions, Epi learns that staying true to your roots is the real glow-up.

With her diary, her culture, and her sister-cousin Lia by her side, she dances through the highs and lows of teen life-one slow jam at a time.

Horses & Us (illustrated non-fiction)

Johanna Emeney
Massey University Press
Genre: Illustrated non-fiction

The bond between human and horse is so special. Horses & Us brings together 23 true stories from across Aotearoa New Zealand which show the incredible things that are achieved when humans and horses come together.

With illustrations by award-winning artists as well as poems, artworks and photographs, Horses & Us is a big-hearted, moving and engaging celebration of the animals we love and the people who love them.

Aimed at young readers, it will delight grown-ups too!

Leonardo's Dragon (illustrated)

Donovan Bixley
Upstart Press
Genre: Illustrated

Five beautifully illustrated dragon stories from around the world in the distinctive style of Donovan Bixley. Told through the eyes of Caterina, a serving girl in Belvedere Palace in Rome, where the excitement is that the great Leonardo da Vinci is visting, and he has a dragon!

Welcome to Miracle (paperback)

Shara Curlett
Scholastic
Genre: Junior

Juniper Mayfair is cursed by Chaos. Or so she has been told. And it is well known that children with Chaos may never visit Miracle, the private island that gifts its visitors magic for twenty-four hours.

What others don’t realise, however, is that Juniper’s Chaos comes in the form of a pesky ghost-who-claims-he’s-not-a-ghost named Finnegan Frost.

So, when Juniper receives an elusive ticket to Miracle, she believes all her wishes have come true. After all, that’s what the island promises.

On the island, though, she discovers that nothing is as it seems. Miracle is not bringing wishes to life, but nightmares.

Juniper and her new friends must uncover the secrets of Miracle to rid the world of Chaos—for good. But first, they must survive the island...

*This is a School Library giveaway.

Castle Grim (paperback)

Shaun Barnett
Scholastic
Genre: Junior

Fighting to survive in a future Aotearoa without internet or global communications, where books are rare treasures, twelve-year-old Herman's life is turned upside down when he's sent away to a fortress-like orphanage known as Castle Grim.

Stalked by kidnappers prowling a land lashed by savage seas patrolled by pirates, Herman and his daring new friend Polly scheme a clever and perilous plan of escape.

*This is a School Library giveaway.

Kupe and the Great Octopus of Muturangi

Mat Tait
Allen & Unwin
Genre: Illustrated

Kupe found that a huge, fearsome wheke (octopus) was taking all the fish in the ocean and the people of Hawaiki had nothing to eat.

So Kupe chased that wheke across Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa (the Pacific Ocean).

Finally, Hine-te-Aparangi, Kupe's wife, saw land and a long white cloud: Aotearoa!

Find out what happened when the wheke and Kupe had a massive battle...

*This is a School Library giveaway.