With so many great kids’ and young adult titles out there, it helps to have a recommendation from the experts. Here are this month’s top picks from Telling Tales: Scorpio Children’s Books.

My Mum is Queen of the Road

Jennifer Beck

Huia

Ages 0–5 

Ari and Isabella play with trucks and diggers, making roads in a sandpit. Ari tells Isabella that his mother is a roadworker and is called Queen of the Road. Isabella asks, does she wear diamonds? Does she sit on a throne? Ari answers no, and Isabella is puzzled until Ari reveals that when his mum turns her sign to Go, everyone cheers and waves at her – just like a queen.

Beautifully illustrated and available in te reo Māori, this book has also been long-listed for the NZ Book Awards 2022.

Hedgewitch

Skye McKenna
Welbeck

Ages 6–12   

Cassie is alone and friendless at a dreadful boarding school, finding solace only in reading. When she runs away after her mother dies, she is befriended and saved from evil goblins by a talking cat and an old broom. She is taken to Hedgely, where her aunt Miranda is the Hedgewitch, protecting the land from dangerous creatures who live beyond the hedge.

Cassie is curious, and against the rules, enters the hedge ... A riveting read.

Skandar and the Unicorn Thief

A. F. Steadman
Simon & Schuster 
Ages 12+ 

No fluffy pink unicorns in sight! These malevolent beasts will kill if they get the chance. When Skandar turns 13, he is spirited to the Island to try his luck at becoming a unicorn rider. But dark forces are at play – a twisted enemy has stolen the most powerful unicorn and becoming a rider is suddenly more dangerous than he could ever have imagined. 



Get ready for unlikely heroes, elemental magic, fierce sky battles and ancient secrets. The first in a trilogy, for fans of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson.

For more great reads, visit www.scorpiobooks.co.nz/tellingtales