Juliette MacIver facts for kids

Juliette MacIver is a New Zealand children’s picture book writer. Her work has been widely reviewed and shortlisted for a number of awards, and her book That’s Not a Hippopotamus! won the picture book category of the 2017 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.  She has four children and lives near Wellington, New Zealand.

Biography

Juliette MacIver grew up in Wellington. She completed a Bachelor of Arts in linguistics at Victoria University of Wellington, and later a Diploma in Teaching English as a Second Language. Following her studies, she taught English, travelled around Thailand and Europe and worked in a government department.

She is married with four children and lives beside the sea near Wellington. She began writing after her third child was born and then found that writing picture books fitted in around looking after small children.

MacIver's books are notable for their use of clever rhyme and their sense of light-hearted fun. They are sold in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the UK and the US and have been reviewed in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Boston Globe.

Awards and prizes

Many of MacIver's picture books have won or been shortlisted for book awards or named as Storylines Notable Books. Marmaduke Duck and the Marmalade Jam was shortlisted for the Crystal Kite Award as well as the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults in 2011. Children’s bookseller John McIntyre included it in his list of essential titles for a child’s first library.

Marmaduke Duck and Bernadette Bear was shortlisted for the LIANZA Book Awards in 2012. Toucan Can was shortlisted for the 2014 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. Gwendolyn! was shortlisted for the 2017 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.

That’s Not a Hippopotamus! won the picture book category of the 2017 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. Duck Goes Meow was shortlisted for the same award in 2023.