
Writing life – Karen McMillan
Karen McMillan, from the Hibiscus Coast north of Auckland, is about to publish her 18th book. She tells us a bit about the latest book
Karen McMillan, from the Hibiscus Coast north of Auckland, is about to publish her 18th book. She tells us a bit about the latest book
Auckland author Karen McMillan is the author of 17 books, published in nine countries, a mixture of fiction, non-fiction and children’s books. Her non-fiction titles
A fantasy action-adventure set in the South Pacific. Kiri, Jed, and twins Emma and Ethan discover an ‘elastic’ island that sends them pinging across the ocean to a variety of destinations.
Bob the Blue-Footed Booby is running a flying school, which sounded like fun until the children discovered that this means dressing in weird costumes and launching themselves off the end of the wharf.
It’s the latest silly idea in a series of doomed ventures from Bob the Blue-Footed Booby, who is trying to save their small fishing village from closure.
Can the children come up with an idea that will save the island and its kooky inhabitants? And what about the complication of The Dastardly Captain Crook?
Written by Karen McMillan and illustrated by Dmitry Chizhov
Kiri, Jed, and twins Emma and Ethan, discover an ‘elastic’ island that sends them pinging across the ocean to a variety of destinations.
When they arrive at the Kingdom of Blong, they discover that Blong the Cat is the island’s missing king. Blong is greeted with a great deal of fanfare, but it looks like fame might be the ruin of him.
Will Blong’s relationship with Emma continue? And why do the bilbies, led by Baxter the Bilby, decide it is a good idea to live on a dangerous island ruled by cats? Will they end up on the dinner menu, or will they survive?
Written by Karen McMillan and illustrated by Dmitry Chizhov
From the bestselling Elastic Island Adventures series, comes a delightful stand-alone book featuring one of its favourite characters, Blong the Cat.
Blong goes shopping to buy a special outfit to wear to a wedding, but not everyone likes his choices!
A story of costumes, numbers and dancing, all wrapped up in a bow of kindness.
Blong the Cat is based on the real-life cat, who Karen and her husband rescued from Vanuatu as a starving kitten and brought to live with them in Auckland. Just like the fictional cat, Blong loves cuddles and music.
Written by Karen McMillan and Illustrated by Dmitry Chizhov
Four children, Kiri, Jed, and the twins Emma and Ethan, discover an ‘elastic’ Island that can send them pinging across the ocean to a variety of tropical island destinations.
Landing at Jewel lagoon on Trinity Island, the children quickly find themselves in trouble!
But even with help from the colourful creatures they meet – Pangali the Platypus, Olaf the Giant, and Big Wig and Wee Wig Knockulous – will they be able to return home safely?
Written by Karen McMillan and illustrated by Dmitry Chizhov
Four children, Kiri, Jed, and twins Emma and Ethan, discover an ‘elastic’ island that can send them pinging across the ocean to a variety of tropical island destinations.
Their last destination spelt trouble, so this time the children are determined to have a relaxed and safe time when they visit Port Mugaloo on MugaMuga Island.
But Ethan falls into a pond and becomes invisible – and the only one who can help them is King Shiny. But King Shiny has gone missing looking for the long-lost royal treasure, so they enlist the help of Mrs Quokka and travel across the desert on a seven-humped camel into very dangerous territory to find him.
Have the children made a mistake in trusting Mrs Quokka? They soon learn that quokkas might be famous for their ‘quokka logic’ but mostly it doesn’t make any sense!
Written by Karen McMillan and illustrated by Dmitry Chizhov
Kiri, Jed, and twins Emma and Ethan, discover an ‘elastic’ island that sends them pinging across the ocean to a variety of destinations.
When they visit Rainbow Cove, they discover creatures called frivals who are responsible for maintaining the colours of the island.
But the frivals have gone on strike after the local people didn’t like them changing all the colours around – and now the island is slowly fading to grey. Because of this the chameleons are in danger of dying, so the children set out to find the frivals missing leader in the hope of saving them.
But will they succeed before it is too late?
Written by Karen McMillan and illustrated by Dmitry Chizhov
Kiri, Jed, and twins Emma and Ethan, discover an ‘elastic’ island that sends them pinging across the ocean to a variety of destinations.
The children are excited to be going to the wedding of King Shiny and Princess Topaz. Love is in the air, especially when they encounter Wombo the Wombat, a bachelor looking for love, who they decide to help. But then Princess Topaz is kidnapped, and everyone begins a frantic hunt to find her.
Will they find her in time for the wedding, and will Wombo the Wombat succeed in finding love?
Written by Karen McMillan and illustrated by Dmitry Chizhov
Kiwi author Karen McMillan shares the first two chapters of her most recent Elastic Island Aventures story for 9-12 year old readers called Flip Flop
We celebrated Kiwi Middle Fiction Month in July 2022, creating an array of content to recognise the quality of fiction for 9 to 12-year-olds being
Becky always loved visiting her dad in New Zealand until she returns during the pandemic.
Now he’s got a baby with her new stepmum and everything has changed. Worse still, her windsurfer hasn’t arrived yet, so there’s nothing for her to do but wait for Mum who is stuck overseas.
Then Becky finds a strange stone at Whale Bay and her luck changes. She makes new friends, joins an environmental group, borrows a windsurfer, and has several close encounters with a bottlenose dolphin who simply won’t leave her alone.
What is wrong with the dolphin? Is it trying to tell her something? And who are the people poaching fish from the marine reserve? How is it all connected? Becky must find a way to solve it all.
Written by Donna Blaber
We’re excited to share with you the following special offers from our kind, generous and talented Kiwi kids’ book authors and illustrators during our FIRST
We have an incredible array of Kiwi middle fiction – that’s fiction for 9 to 12 year old readers created by New Zealanders – so