The winner of the Best Young Adult Fiction award AND the New Zealand Post Margaret Mahy Book of the Year is Into the River, by Ted Dawe:
This engaging coming of age novel follows its main protagonist from his childhood in small town rural New Zealand to an elite Auckland boarding school where he must forge his own way – including battling with his cultural identity.
“Into the River was the book that stood out for us,” says Chief Judge and author Bernard Beckett.
“Traditionally, books aimed at the top end of the young adult market [ages 15+] have not been a strength of ours here in New Zealand, with most books aimed nearer the junior fiction boundary. We were delighted to see a book that both engaged and respected older readers, with material as subtle as it is honest and provocative.
See the rest of the YA finalists here, and the rest of the winners here.
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