Library Books > Fiction > NZ Intermediate & Young Adult Fiction

2009 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of legendary New Zealander Barry Crump's first, and most-loved novel, A Good Keen Man. Born in Auckland in 1935, Crump worked for many years as a government deer-culler in areas of New Zealand native forest and A Good Keen Man was the result of his collected experiences. This novel became one of the most popular in New Zealand history. Taken together, Crump's novels have sold more than one million copies domestically, equating to one book sold for every four New Zealanders. Crump w... read more

Sarah and Jessica arrive in New Zealand for a holiday. They find a mobile phone in the taxi from the airport. It is Michael's mobile, but can they find him? He has messages from home are they important? Go with the girls on a New Zealand adventure.

Neale'™s sport is archery and he is pretty good at it. When Kane and his mates start rubbishing him, Neale's hot temper quickly gets the better of him. Now he'™s in a shoot-out with Kane, but that'™s only the start of his troubles. A sudden landslip cuts the two boys off from help and they realise they have to put their differences aside if they are to survive.

A mind-blowing new novel from multi-award winning author Margaret Mahy. Roland has everything a young man could wish for - good looks, enough money, a cool relationship with his mother, ready wit, intelligence, a sexy girlfriend, a perfect school record. So the fact that he committed a petty crime and that, somehow, one of his teachers knows about it is something he can hardly explain to himself, let alone anyone else. The teacher, Mr Hudson, uses this knowledge to blackmail Roland into befriending the school misfit - Jess Ferret... read more

Nicky, who has the ability to travel through the power of the mind, is on the run. She and the four other teenagers who share her 'freakish' gifts are trying to stay free of the Project: an anonymous group that has controlled their lives, using the teens as messengers, spies, and search and rescue personnel for a number of unexplained missions. How do these young people, forced apart from their families, and effectively turned into slaves (albeit pampered ones), react to their hard won independence? They're alone in Los Angeles, n... read more

AUNT EFFIE is the first of a new series of books by Jack Lasenby about Aunt Effie, her six gigantic pig dogs, her twenty-six nephews and nieces, and their adventures in the kauri forests of the Coromandel and fighting off pirates in the Hauraki Gulf.

We're back at the ranch with Aunt Effie in this hilarious book - the fourth in the Aunt Effie series. In this story Aunt Effie and her mob of dogs, nieces and nephews are set to descend on the Beehive since it turns out that the Prime Minister is really Aunt Effie's tricky little mother.

Winner of the New Zealand Post Book Awards, Junior Fiction Award 2005. AUNT EFFIE is restless. She and her 26 nieces and nephews are off again in the scow Margery Daw — on a treasure hunt across the pirate-infested waterways north of Auckland. However boat and crew become marvellously sidetracked: the scow is converted into a mobile village for cross-country travel; a hot-pool swim makes the little ones go bendy; the race between Banana Bob’s Model T Ford and ‘everybody’s uncle’ Chris’s St... read more

Here is the second book in the hilarious and outrageous Aunt Effie series. In this story Aunt Effie, dressed in her green canvas invalid's pyjamas, hibernates all winter leaving her 26 resourceful nieces and nephews to deal with snowstorm and flood, ravening monsters, a barnful of hungry animals and a wild ark-ride over the Vast Untrodden Ureweras. Among the comic cast of cousins are Daisy, whose primness puckers the mouth, Alwyn, who echoes and 'backwardises' the most emphatic statements, and Jack, a junior version of Jack-the... read more

Within the pages of this omnibus, readers will discover all three books upon which the movie Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is based: The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, and The Wide Window. Like the movie, this thick volume tells an unhappy tale about three very unlucky children, who despite being perfectly well-mannered are perfectly ill-fated. From the very beginning of Book the First, when the children learn of a terrible fire, continuing on to the last page of Book the Third, disaster lurks at their heels. Un... read more

Billy Button, one of Lolly's classmates from Room 7, can't keep his mouth shut or his temper under control. It makes preparation for the annual Pet and Produce Day a nightmare. Not only that: Room 7 is full of over-achievers, teacher's pets and anarchists - and worse, Billy has to wrestle with the community judges' arcane and rigid rules. Billy's imagination and his Pet and Produce Day projects run riot, and so do the events of P & P Day - just the way Ms Love likes things to go: 'not with a whimper, but a bang!' This emotionally e... read more

Danny and Nicki notice their dog Patch is bringing home bones to bury in the garden. The only thing is that these bones look like human bones. The police are called in, their dad's prize-winning flowers are dug up and all turns to chaos. Can Patch, the chief suspect, help solve the mystery of the bones? Kiwi Bites are bite-sized stories for younger readers from favourite authors.

A fiction title unashamedly written for boys. In the same vein as 'A Handful of Blue', this story starts out humourously but moves into an introspective mood. It is written in an unusual contemporary style that will apeal to teenagers. The story starts with a typical boy prank - trying to get a pair of shoes from the power lines outside the school grounds. The stunt almost costs Callum his life and he is suspended from school. Mum and Dad discuss the situation and decide he should accompany Dad on his annual motorbike ride wouth. T... read more

“Come close and listen. I have a story to tell.” Melanie Drewery spins a magical tale, weaving together the ties from the past that bind us all to this land called Aotearoa.
Across the years we have all formed links and connections to the land we call home and no matter where we are in the world we will always feel that pull back to this special place.

It's 2075, and Arlo is having trouble with his spelling. Cyanide, the house robot, is malfunctioning and the fridge is having a nervous breakdown. Then, just when things can't get any worse, Toothpaste Man flies into Arlo's life. Wacky, of-the-wall and totally hilarious, award-winning Janice Marriott's novel will appeal to children of all ages.

Finalist New Zealand Post Young Adult 2005.Tara is heading home. Ryan is driving his mates. Neither of them is paying attention. The tragedy that follows changes many lives. A compelling and gripping story for age 12 plus.

In 1924, thirteen-year-old Dee is living with her mother and aunt: her father died during World War One. Although she misses her father, Dee is happy enough until she is separated from her mother and her aunt, both of whom, falling very ill, have to go to a sanatorium for medical care. Dee is thrust into a Wellington children's Refuge, where an authoritarian Assistant Matron makes her life a misery, and the rules of the institution suffocate Dee's academic ambitions and her self-expression. Soon Dee is shocked to learn that her aun... read more

reading age 11 to 15 years. The ongoing success of "Slide The Corner" led Fleur to start writing "Deadly Prospect", a story about a boy and his motorbike, written for anyone who likes the roar and the hype of riding trail bikes. Linc's uncle has introduced him to trail bike riding and the muddy joys of motocross, but his parents are not so keen. When his father has an accident and his mother rushes off to be with him, Linc must be the man of the house and look after his younger brother Glenn, who is running with a dangerous crowd. ... read more

Set in a rural Maori coastal community, the humour and aroha of the community are powerful life preserving factors. But there is conflict in the whanau. Te Rua is battling for custody of his daughter against his two aunts. But why are they disputing custody and what is really going on?.

This novel tackles the topic of teenage sex. Kallum plays Blues guitar and thinks classical music is for losers. But when his mate Saul asks him to play a duet for the youth orchestra he agrees to give it a go. Soon he finds himself enjoying the challenging music and the company of his duet partner, the gorgeous Paige. Paige and Kallum are drawn together, but their relationship rapidly spirals out of control with consequences that may change their lives forever. In Duet David Hill tackles the difficult issue of teen pregnancy... read more