Fresh recognition for talented storyteller

East Auckland author Leonie Agnew has extra accolades to her identify along with her newest guide that includes within the current Storylines Notable E book Awards.

The awards “have fun excellence in New Zealand youngsters’s and younger grownup literature, recognising excellent books that mirror the creativity, variety and depth of storytelling in Aotearoa New Zealand”.

They’re chosen by panels of kids’s and younger grownup librarians, authors, illustrators, lecturers, lecturers and households.

The annual Storylines Notable E book Lists spotlight the perfect titles printed between November 16, 2024, and November 15 this 12 months throughout 5 classes, being Image E book, Junior Fiction, Younger Grownup Fiction, Non-fiction and Te Reo Māori.

“Congratulations to all of the authors, illustrators, translators and publishers whose distinctive work has been recognised this 12 months,” the awards organisers say.

Agnew’s guide, The Solely Dinosaur in Faculty, is considered one of 10 books named as the perfect Image Books printed over the previous 12 months.

The work of fiction was impressed by considered one of her imaginative younger family members who loved roaring like a dinosaur. It’s illustrated by Julia Hegetusch and printed by Scholastic.

Agnew publicly launched it at an occasion at Howick Library earlier this 12 months.

The current recognition within the Storylines Notable E book Awards provides to earlier accolades she’s obtained for her books, together with her manuscript for The Unattainable Story of Hannah Kemp, which received the 2022 Storylines Tessa Duder Award and noticed her awarded a contract with Walker Books.

Her 2024 guide Take Me to Your Chief was named a finalist within the New Zealand E book Awards for Kids and Younger Adults within the Esther Glen Junior Fiction Award class.

Agnew’s newest work is impressed by her younger nephew Theo, who when he was about three years previous was an enormous fan of dinosaurs.

She and her husband would babysit him and he’d preserve pretending he was a dinosaur.

“Every time we requested a query, Theo would roar as an alternative of talking,” Agnew says.

“That gave me the concept – what if a boy actually was a dinosaur and nobody believed him?

“How would he handle sure issues, like attending college or make mates?

“Theo within the story wears a human costume in an effort to slot in and, after all, numerous issues go unsuitable!”

Agnew says she usually writes chapter books for kids, and he or she loved writing one thing shorter with photos.

“The illustrator, Julia Hegetusch, has carried out a incredible job.”