About NZPBC

Purpose

The purpose of the New Zealand Picture Book Collection, He Kohinga Pukapuka Pikitia o Aotearoa,  is to provide a set of quality New Zealand English picture books reflecting diversity in New Zealand society which can be used in New Zealand classrooms with specially designed, curriculum-linked classroom activities. It is based on the concept of the European Picture Book Collection, developed by Dr. Penni Cotton of the NCRCL, Roehampton University, London, UK.

History

The New Zealand Picture Book Collection was developed in 2010 in consultation with a group of six children’s literature experts. It is expected that the collection will be updated every five years.

Process of selection

Six children’s literature experts met with the researcher for five sessions of 90-120 minutes. In these sessions each person nominated a New Zealand picture book for inclusion in the collection. They read the book to the rest of the group and then discussed their reasons for nominating the title. Notes from discussions were taken by a field note taker, and were then analysed for themes.  After the five sessions, the experts sent in a final list of books chosen from the full list of all nominations which they believed should be included in the collection. Books nominated by five of the six experts were included in the final collection of 22 titles.

An article describing the process of developing the NZBC, and the themes identified in the nomination process will be placed here soon….

Availability

The NZPBC books are not available as a unit, but most will be found in school libraries or through the National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa. They can also be purchased through children’s book shops or directly through the publisher.

Kia Ora

Thanks for using this website. You may notice that some of the books mentioned have gone out of print or are difficult to locate, and we apologise for that. The collection was created in 2010 and as time passes more books will go out of print. We hope you may be able to access some of the books through libraries nonetheless, or at least make use of the ideas in the resources. If you wish to find out more about the work of the Waikato Picturebook Research Unit (WaiPRU), please go to our site

Ngā Mihi