Scholastic New Zealand Award
for Best Children’s Book 2025

Finalist

Designer: Cat Taylor, Cat Taylor Design

Title: Nanny Rina’s Amazing Nets & Ngā Kupenga a Nanny Rina
Publisher: Penguin Random House NZ
Format: 290 x 240mm, 32pp, paperback, section sewn, cover with matt lamination, spot UV (gloss) and blueish silver foil stamping. Printed using vegetable inks

Typography: Title Font: Bloomer
Body Font: Noah 18pt

Publisher's Brief
"This story is a creative vehicle to explain mātauranga –the Matariki celebration and the art of weaving by wāhine Māori – to young children. We wanted the illustrations and design to feel handmade and a bit more feminine, blending contemporary and traditional to help evoke the sense of traditions being passed with aroha from generation to generation. It’s a story about a star whānau as well as a human whānau, so the story had planned flow between earthy and starry scenes and colours.

We also wanted the text design to emphasise certain Māori names and words, to help readers pronounce potentially unfamiliar words aloud and memorise them, like an in-text glossary, but also to emphasise their specialness and their preciousness."