Puffin Book Club Archive

Brought to you by

Welcome to the Puffin Book Club Archive where you’ll find all of the
amazing kids Books of the Month from yesteryear!

Discover magical adventures and fascinating characters written to spark a lifelong
love of reading in your little one.

Read on and remember, there’s always time for stories.

Puffin Book of the Month 2021 reviews

The Adventures of Mittens | Book Review

A delightful story about Mittens' adventures around NZ's capital city, and all the lives he touches! Just as delightfully illustrated by Phoebe Morris, our kiddies will enjoy this happy tale ...
Read Review

Moose The Pilot | Book Review

Set in the world of Puffin the Architect and her friends, the adventures of the bush Pilot Moose will captivate your little readers - especially fans of flying machines! ...
Read Review

Atua: Māori Gods and Heroes | Book Review

Each story is rich with detail about our Māori tales so you’re introduced to the story, the characters, the language and the deeper meaning behind some of the most familiar ...
Read Review

Little Kiwi and the Goodnight Sing-Song | Book Review

Little Kiwi and the Goodnight Sing-Song is like a lullaby before bed. The lift-the-flap story for Little Kiwi fans is written and illustrated as sweet and cute as always ...
Read Review

My Elephant Is Blue | Book Review

Difficult emotions are not easy to chat about, or even easy to detect which principle emotion is at the core of some resulting behaviour. Books are a great way to ...
Read Review

A Pukeko in a Ponga Tree | Book Review

This very special large-format hardback edition celebrates the 40th anniversary of Aotearoa's most beloved and iconic Christmas story ...
Read Review

Kia Kaha: A Storybook of Māori Who Changed the World | Book Review

A powerful illustrated storybook for the tamariki and rangatahi of Aotearoa New Zealand celebrating Māoritanga! ...
Read Review

Bluey: Where’s Bluey? | Book Review

The boys LOVED this book. Fans of Bluey and Bingo already, they knew the beloved characters and excitedly spotted characters and items from page to page like a game to ...
Read Review

Puffin Book of the Month 2020 reviews

The Midnight Adventures of Ruru and Kiwi | Book Review

If you’re familiar with the Edward Lear rhyme The Owl and the Pussycat then this book will be instantly recognisable to you! A delightful Kiwi adaption, if you like, of ...
Read Review

Amazing Aotearoa Activity Book | Book Review

From the same author of the incredible picture book Wildlife of Aotearoa, Gavin Bishop, comes The Amazing Aotearoa Activity Book - and it’s awesome! There’s 60+ games, puzzles and activities ...
Read Review

Abigail and the Restless Raindrop | Book Review

Now Abigail is back, with the next big question and this time she asks how the heck does water get in the clouds? ...
Read Review

Taking the Lead | Book Review

Meet Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, who hopes the things she’s done will help everyone, especially children, to believe that they can do great things too ...
Read Review

I Am The Universe | Book Review

A delightful illustrated story about our place in the Universe with a billion star rating. From glittering galaxies, to jam packed city streets, from under the sea to the Milky Way ...
Read Review

Hound the Detective | Book Review

Another gorgeous book from the author who both wrote and illustrated award winning book Puffin the Architect, Kimberly. This time we meet Hound, a brilliant detective who sniffs and solves ...
Read Review

Kiwi Baby | Book Review

If you're a parent who has introduced a new sibling to your child or you're about to, you'll be aware of the process around this super significant event! ...
Read Review

E-books Your Young Reader Can Get Stuck Into

Looking for a new book series to get your young reader stuck into? This month we’re bringing you the best series for junior readers, available as e-books, along with some ...
Read Review

Puffin Book of the Month 2019 reviews

Awesome Books for Kiwi Babies | Book Review

My Body, and Animals, are two of a series of books written and illustrated by Matthew and Fraser Williamson which teach our little learners names, numbers and colours in both ...
Read Review

The Cat From Muzzle | Book Review

The Cat From Muzzle traces the true story of a high-country cat’s epic, five-week journey home to New Zealand's most remote station ...
Read Review

Abigail and The Birth of The Sun | Book Review

Such a familiar story to many of us, a kid full of wonder about the universe around them with as many questions about it as there are stars in the ...
Read Review

Wildlife of Aotearoa | Book Review

From the author of Aotearoa: The New Zealand Story, Gavin Bishop, comes this new incredible picture book Wildlife of Aotearoa. Spectacularly illustrated and spectacularly full to the brim with exploration ...
Read Review

Little Hector and the Big Idea | Book Review

If you’re wanting to raise kids who not only care about the world in which they live but have some kind of kid friendly idea of what’s one problem and ...
Read Review

Dinosaur Hunter | Book Review

There's no beating around the bush with this book, there's no swish went the wind and thwack went the hammer, boom went the dynamite and tack tack went the chisel, ...
Read Review

Make the most of the loveable characters and exciting adventures from our past books of the month with these fun activities!

– Click, download and print –

Enjoy colouring in Little Kiwi as he lays in his nest with all the noisy critters around him keeping him awake!

Dowload a free guide to books dealing with tricky topics. Sometimes raising issues like anxiety, depression or bullying with our children can feel impossible. Books can be a great gateway to these conversations.

Enjoy designing a paper plane from Moose the Pilot and use the instructions to fold and build your own paper plane! Design a few paper planes and see how far and high you can fly your planes!

Colour in the sweet Little Unicorn as a daytime activity before you tuck the kiddies into bed to read one of the books from the Ten Minutes to Bed series, written specifically with the aim of calming little ones before bedtime.

After reading Mittens and following the famous kitty’s adventurous day your kiddies can colour in a collar for Mittens (or their own cat) making it as crazy creative or silly or as simple as they wish!

Have plenty of fun with these Slinky Malinki Activity Sheets. Spot the change, colour in, Word Find and more all in the theme of our infamous and beloved Slinky Malinki!

Have more awesome learning fun The Amazing Aotearoa activity pack! The kids can do Wordfinder Warrior, Land Loss Labyrinth, play a game of Eels and Hooks, and get creative with their own story – what would be their super power?!

With big wide eyes that have been inspired by the wonder of the universe, the earth, and their place in it, your kids can get creative and have fun colouring in our solar system with this I am the Universe colouring sheet!

After searching for clues hidden in the pictures and helping Hound, a brilliant detective, to solve the riddle in Hound the Detective, help him solve another case in this puzzling Spot the Difference activity!

After reading the sweet story of Abigail and the Restless Raindrop you can let your kiddies wonder about the world and think up their own big questions as they colour in the sweet line drawing of a girl looking at raindrops and wondering about the the world around her.

If you’re awaiting the arrival of your very own Kiwi Baby with the almost Big Sibling eagerly or hesitantly awaiting too, the family could start preparing to welcome baby home with this cute Kiwi Baby activity – Kiwi Baby Bunting! You’ll need to print the bunting, some scissors (for mum or dad), sticky tape or wooden pegs, and string or ribbon. Have fun!

After exercising your child’s imagination by taking an adventure in the forest with the nocturnal creatures busy in the moonlight feasting and dancing with glee, get the kids to design their very own party invitation to their very own midnight feast inspired by the delightful tale.

Read Dandy the Mountain Pony, book one of the Showtym Adventures the bestselling series inspired by true stories from the Wilson sisters’ childhoods as they first encounter horses in the wild and learn what it takes to make them champions. And get your kids to try their hand at the Crossword, Wordfind and Spot the Difference activities!

Roald Dahl books are a must for a young reader’s bookshelves. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda are big fan favourites! But since the movie is scheduled for release later this year, why not try The Witches. Then get your kid’s imagination into gear for the Invention Room, and colouring creativity for their very own DO NOT DISTURB door hangers!

The Trials of Apollo is a rip roaring adventure series that needs to be read chronologically beginning with book one- The Hidden Oracle. Get the kids to try out the Hidden Oracle Word Search!

Is your kid familiar with the trials and tribulations of Greg Heffley? If not, with fourteen books in the Diary of A Wimpy Kid series so far, there’s plenty to keep them going for a while! And get the kids creating their own Greg Heffley mask BOOH-YAH!

After you’ve followed Jacinda Ardern’s path to leadership get your own little trailblazers to try out this word grid. Can they find them all?!

After your explorers have journeyed through their encounter with New Zealand’s incredible wildlife discovering all sorts of wild facts, see how they go matching the story to the newsworthy NZ animal.

Dinosaur Hunter

The Dinosaur Hunter is a story about one incredible New Zealander. There are many incredible New Zealanders. Now your child can write their own fact sheet about their own Kiwi hero!

Abigail and the Birth of the Sun

After exploring with Abigail and letting their imagination run wild through space, your child can continue the adventure with this fun colouring-in activity.

My Body for Kiwi Babies

Now your child has been learning the English and Maori terms for their body thanks to the wonderful visuals in My Body for Kiwi Babies, you can help make learning even more fun with this great printable game.

Little Hector activity pack

A tonne of fun awaits your little one with this activity pack full of colouring pages, drawing activities and ‘spot the…’ games.

Click the image to download the full activity pack.

The Cat From Muzzle

Now your child has fallen in love with Dwayne the loveable tabby cat from The Cat From Muzzle, they can explore their creativity further with our free downloadable colouring page.