Scholastic’s Kiwis at War series: Sharing New Zealand’s WWI history with Kiwi kids

On Monday 4 August Scholastic will be launching Kiwis at War, a new five-book fiction series that tracks the years of World War One from the perspective of New Zealanders involved in the conflict. 

Each action-packed story will highlight a different aspect of the Great War: from the Mounted Riflemen, to the hospital ships, to the Maori Battalion, and beyond. Kiwis at War aims to tell the tales of our WWI Anzac soldiers in a way that is accessible to New Zealand children 100 years on.

Book one in the series, 1914: Riding into War, is written by Susan Brocker, author of The Drover’s Quest and Brave Bess and the Anzac Horses. Riding into War follows the journey of teen Billy Bowman from his family farm in the Manawatu, to the Awapuni Training Camp, to more training in the sands of Egypt, before he finally gets shipped out – without his horse – to fight at Gallipoli.

This Monday 4 August marks 100 years since the declaration of World War One, so it is a fitting date for the launch of the Kiwis at War series – even more fitting that the launch be held at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

Five top New Zealand children’s authors will describe the ideas and inspirations behind each book in the Kiwis at War series, and how they have worked together to weave common threads throughout the stories.

Join Susan Brocker, along with Diana Menefy, David Hair, Brian Falkner and Des Hunt, the authors of forthcoming Kiwis at War titles.

The series has had strong support from the Returned Services Association; RSA Patron Trelise Cooper is attending the series launch, as well as Auckland RSA President Graham Gibson.

New titles in the Kiwis at War series will be released annually to coincide with the 100th anniversary of major junctures in World War One.

As this country’s largest children’s book publisher, Scholastic is committed to New Zealand authors and illustrators and the uniquely New Zealand stories they tell.

Scholastic NZ Publishing Manager Lynette Evans is guiding the creation of the series. ‘Kiwi kids need to know that the hard-won war medals of their great-grandparents are not dusty relics of the past. There are sacrifices and stories behind each one. It is important that these New Zealand stories are told.’

Scholastic Kiwis at War: Series Launch

6.00pm, Monday 4 August

Level 2, Auditorium Lobby

(entry via Atrium, South Entrance)

Auckland War Memorial Museum, Parnell