Kete and Storylines spotlight Aotearoa junior and young adult fiction with new bestseller list

Kete Books and Storylines have launched a new monthly bestseller list to help showcase and promote the excellent junior and young adult fiction books written and published in Aotearoa New Zealand.

View the Aotearoa Children’s Junior Fiction and Young Adult Bestseller List, sponsored by Storylines.

Created with data collected by Nielsen BookScan, the new list focuses on New Zealand junior fiction, young adult fiction and children’s graphic novels. This first edition of the list features the ten best-selling titles in these categories for April 2023.

Kete Books will continue to release its weekly Nielsen BookScan bestseller list which features the top ten-selling New Zealand children’s titles for the week prior. This list is often dominated by Aotearoa’s well-known and world class picture books. The new, monthly list is an initiative aimed at highlighting the range and depth of the excellent books written and published for older children in New Zealand.

In celebration, Kete has also collected a selection of new children’s book review and editorial content, including a review of Tessa Duder’s new historical young adult novel The Sparrow, and a Cover Story feature, delving into the creation of the cover art featured on Philippa Werry’s novel Iris and Me. Kete Editor Dionne Christian’s column this week also highlights the new ways in which young people are engaging with books and fiction. 

Anne de Lautour, Storylines Executive Officer explains the motivation behind the Aotearoa Children’s Junior Fiction and Young Adult Bestseller List:

“There is a raft of dazzling, fun, engaging and thought-provoking writing for children going on in Aotearoa – that’s true across all categories and genres. But one thing we have noticed is that junior and young adult fiction doesn’t often make the existing New Zealand books bestseller lists – which are regularly dominated by picture books and non-fiction.

We wanted to sponsor the Aotearoa Children’s Junior Fiction and Young Adult Bestseller list as a way to help showcase the wonderful fiction books for school aged children and young adults that New Zealand writers are creating – and that tamariki around the country are enjoying.”

Kete Books is a Coalition for Books initiative. Coalition Chair, Melanie Laville-Moore says: “We’re very excited to partner with Storylines. The Coalition will promote this new monthly list, and highlight the books it features, to readers and the public through our Kete Books platform. Our kaupapa at the Coalition is to bring the Aotearoa New Zealand book sector together to promote and support the books written in this country. This is a great example of our work in action – and I’m looking forward to finding out which books are highlighted on the list each month!”

View the April 2023 Aotearoa Children’s Junior Fiction and Young Adult Bestseller List.

Storylines Children's Literature Charitable Trust Te Whare Waituhi Tamariki o Aotearoa promotes awareness of the importance of reading and books for all children and young adults; works to ensure children and young adults in New Zealand have access to high quality literature; and supports the writers and illustrators of literature for children and young adults in New Zealand. Storylines aims to inspire children, young adults and their whanau to enjoy the magic of books and reading, especially reading books created for them by New Zealand writers and illustrators. 

The Coalition for Books was established in 2019 to facilitate collaboration across the book sector and deliver initiatives to reach and engage more audiences in a diverse range of Aotearoa New Zealand books. It aims to enhance the visibility of Aotearoa New Zealand books and grow sales of local books. Kete Books is a Coalition for Books initiative. It collects independent reviews of Aotearoa New Zealand books, new book listings, book news, bestseller lists, a calendar of events and book sector information.