When HELL isn’t pushing pizza (or doing good deeds through Satan’s Little Helper), it’s doing its best to ensure kids get their literature fix.
With the HELL Reading Challenge having incentivised young Kiwis to read more than 2.5 million books to date, our sponsorship of the Children’s Book Awards aims to spread the word (literally) even further.
An important feature of these annual awards is the HELL Children’s Choice, which gives kids a say about what books they’ve enjoyed most this year.
Young bookworms across the country voted under five categories: Picture Book, Junior Fiction, Non-Fiction, Young Adult Fiction and Te Reo Māori.
This year’s winners are:
Picture Book – The House on the Hill, by Kyle Mewburn with illustrations by Sarah Davis
“Tis a cold, dark night, and deathly still. Dare two ghosts brave the nighttime chill? Pray follow, dear reader ...read on if you will, to uncover the secret of the house on the hill.” An award-winning author and illustrator combine their talents in this deliciously spine-tingling story, with its lyrical text and just the right touch of spookiness.
Junior Fiction – The Girl Who Rode the Wind, by Stacy Gregg
An epic, emotional story of two girls and their bond with beloved horses, the action sweeping between Italy during the Second World War and present day.
Non-Fiction – First to the Top, by David Hill with illustrations by Phoebe Morris
“Up on the world's highest mountain, the sky is tinged the black colour of space and the air is almost too thin to breathe.” How did Ed, a small, shy boy from the tiny town of Tuakau in New Zealand, grow up to become the world's most famous mountaineer and adventurer?
Young Adult Fiction – Stray, by Rachael Craw
Evie is a Shield: designed to kill in order to protect, and the Affinity Project have finally come for her. But Evie isn’t ready for the sinister organisation to take control of her life, her body, her mind. Stray is the third book in Craw’s critically acclaimed Spark series.
Te Reo Māori – Te Hua Tuatahi a Kuwi, by Kat Merewether and translated by Pania Papa
Kuwi is a young and confused kiwi, who has found herself alone with her newly laid egg. But she has never had an egg before and is unsure how to look after it. When the egg gets a crack, Kuwi thinks that the egg is broken, but she's in for a surprise…