NZ Post Book awards finalists announced

Emerging authors and illustrators battle it out with our long-time writing heroes in the nation’s most prestigious children’s book awards this year.
Announced on Monday, the finalists in the 2009 New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults include names loved by generations of Kiwis including Joy Cowley, Maurice Gee and Jack Lasenby. Alongside them are some exciting new talent in New Zealand children’s literature.
"The wide range of themes, places and times represented in this year’s selection are a fantastic snapshot of who we are as Kiwis and as a nation. There are rhyming stories that feature animals; humorous yet thought-provoking contemporary fiction; stories that look forwards as well as backwards, as far back as pre-history; science fiction, fantasy and realism. All these great books offer New Zealand children and young adults a veritable feast of challenging, stimulating and engrossing reading, as well as fresh, new ways of looking at the world" says New Zealand Post Book Awards judges’ convenor, Bill Nagelkerke.
The finalists were selected from more than 130 children’s books published in New Zealand in 2008 and submitted for the awards.
Nagelkerke, a past New Zealand Post finalist and former children’s librarian is joined on the judging panel by children’s editor and career bookseller, Jenni Keestra and children’s literature reviewer and librarian, Rosemary Tisdall. Together they will decide which author will earn the New Zealand Post Book of the Year prize and will choose winners from across the four categories. Winners will be announced on 20 May.

Picture Book
Duck's Stuck! by Kyle Mewburn, illustrated by Ali Teo and John O'Reilly.
Every Second Friday, by Kiri Lightfoot, illustrated by Ben Galbraith.
Piggity-Wiggity Jiggity Jig, by Diana Neild, illustrated by Philip Webb.
Roadworks, by Sally Sutton, illustrated by Sarah Nelisiwe Anderson.

Non-fiction
Back and Beyond: New Zealand Painting for the Young and Curious, by Gregory O'Brien.
The Crafting of Narnia: The Art, Creatures, and Weapons from Weta Workshop, by Paul Tobin and Daniel Falconer.
High-Tech Legs, on Everest by Mark Inglis with Sarah Ell
Juicy Writing: Inspiration and Techniques for Young Writers, by Brigid Lowry.
Piano Rock: A 1950s Childhood, by Gavin Bishop.

Junior Fiction
Chicken Feathers, by Joy Cowley, illustrated by David Elliot.
Enemy at the Gate, by Philippa Werry.
Five (and a bit) Days in the Life of Ozzie Kingsford, by Val Bird, illustrated by Rebecca Cundy.
Old Drumble, by Jack Lasenby.
Payback, by Michelle Kelly.

Young Adult Fiction
The 10 pm Question, by Kate de Goldi.
Chronicles of Stone 1, Scorched Bone, by Vincent Ford.
Gool, by Maurice Gee.
Juno of Taris, by Fleur Beale.
The Tomorrow Code, by Brian Falkner.