Annie and Moon / Ko Annie raua ko Marama

About the Author

Miriam Smith 1926-1987 (Ngati Hau, Ngapuhi) was a writer and preschool adviser who was born in Whakapara, Bay of Islands, and raised and educated in Otane, Hawke's Bay. She wrote several children's books including Kimi and the Watermelon, Annie and Moon, and Rehutai and Tangitangi. She was an advocate for teaching te reo Maori to all children, and her books reflect Maori values of caring for each other and the land. Described by her daughter Briar Grace Smith as having a "big heart", Miriam's manaaki and love for storytelling lives on in the pages of her books. Lesley Moyes is the author and illustrator of a number of children's books produced between 1980 and 1997 and is notable for her intricate and delicately coloured watercolour and ink illustrations. Alphabet Apartments (1997), which she both wrote and illustrated, is a super-sized alphabet book that entranced children with its highly detailed scenes of police chasing a robber from apartment building to apartment building. She illustrated Miriam Smith's Annie and Moon (1998), which won the Picture Book of the Year Award 1989, as well as a number of educational readers. Lesley lives in Wellington, New Zealand.