Father’s Day fun adds to the incredible run of the New Bum! series

Dad needs a NEW BUM!

Dawn McMillan 

Illustrated by Ross Kinnaird

The spectacular success that started from the global bestseller I need a NEW BUM! rolls on, with number 13 in the New Bum! series hitting stores in time for Father’s Day 2026.

Someone is making disgusting smells and all the signs point to Dad:
There must be something wrong for him to pong so often during the day.

Our hero (Red Pants Boy) sets out to prepare a Father’s Day present that will solve the smelly problem. But is it really Dad doing the farts?

Dad needs a NEW BUM! is already out in the UK with a North American edition to follow, and the New Zealand and Australian releases are sure to create a stink!

The author

Dawn McMillan is the much-loved author of many children’s books, including  I Need a New Bum!, My Bum is SO SPOOKY!, and There’s a Crab in my Castle. She lives in Waiomu, north of Thames. Dawn was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to children’s literature in the 2026 Royal Honours.

The illustrator

Ross Kinnaird is an illustrator and graphic designer whose books have been published in many countries, many of them in collaboration with Dawn. After a career as a creative director, he now creates books from his home close to the water on Auckland’s North Shore. 

Publication Date: 13 August 2026  |  ISBN: 9781991353047|  RRP $21.00

PB, 230 x 215 mm portrait, 32 pp, colour

Two new books celebrate the fun of Christmas and its South Pacific flavours

Just right for the stocking or under the tree come two delightful books that will entertain children this Christmas:

From our Moana Oceania Series comes the bilingual A Manulele in a Mango Tree/Le Manulele o nofo i le Mago, in English and Gagana Sāmoa — and for the fans of the best-selling New Bum series, the new hilarious seasonal adventure Santa needs a NEW BUM! 

Scroll down to read more.

A Manulele in a Mango Tree
Le Manulele o nofo i le Mago

Sarona Aiono-Iosefa 
Illustrated by Steven Dunn 
Translated by Le’autuli Sauvao

A partridge in a pear tree is something you won’t see at Christmas in New Zealand, let alone the South Pacific. But a colourful bird in a mango tree that’s more like it.

A Manulele in a Mango Tree brings the '12 Days of Christmas' to the South Pacific with gifts including frangipani, corned beef, drummers and fire dancers.

Strikingly illustrated with woodblock prints, this bilingual book gives a summery setting to Christmas while celebrating many aspects of Pacific culture, from weaving to drumming to dance.

In the vein of the classic A Pukeko in a Ponga Tree, this picture book will make a great gift or a fun read around the Christmas tree.

The authors

Sarona Aiono-Iosefa is a Samoan-New Zealand writer, senior manager and former journalist who has written several books for children. She lives in Wellington.

Steven Dunn is an artist and illustrator. He lives in Christchurch, where he works as a graphic designer.

Le’autuli Sauvao MNZM, JP was a distinguished educator and translator of Gagana Sāmoa (the Samoan language). Sadly, she passed away in August.

Publication: 5 November 2025  |  ISBN: 978-1-99-004292-8 |  RRP $21  

 PB, 230 mm x 215 mm portrait, 32 pp, colour

Santa needs a NEW BUM!

Dawn McMillan 
Illustrated by Ross Kinnaird

Who would believe it? Santa and Red Pants Boy are sitting together for tea. But as well as festive cheer, Santa brings a problem: his bum is ill-fitting from all of the sitting!

Can our hero and his family help Santa get his bum back in shape in time for Christmas present deliveries?

This festive and funny tale will spread Christmas joy to all the kids, parents and grandparents who can’t get enough of the New Bum! shenanigans.

Dawn McMillan’s playful rhymes and Ross Kinnaird’s vibrant drawings bring an exciting holiday adventure to New Bum! fans around the world, continuing the success of this globally bestselling series.

The authors

Dawn McMillan is the much-loved author of many children’s books, including I Need a New Bum!, I’ve Broken my Bum!, There’s a Moa in the Moonlight and Why Do Dogs Sniff Bottoms. A retired primary-school teacher with a love of reading, she lives in Waiomu, north of Thames. 

Ross Kinnaird is an illustrator and graphic designer whose books, many of them in collaboration with Dawn, have been published in many countries. After a career as a creative director, he now creates books from his home close to the water on Auckland’s North Shore.

Publication: 9 October 2025  |  ISBN: 978-1-99-004282-9  |  RRP $21  

 PB, 230 x 215 mm, 32 pp, colour

Finding a new bum and finding Easter eggs in hilarious new picture book

 

Easter Bunny Needs a New Bum!
Dawn McMillan
Illustrated by Ross Kinnaird

Easter egg-citement awaits in seasonal addition to the hit New Bum! series

 

As children are gearing up for Easter egg hunts and trying to spot the Easter Bunny, here comes the book to spark their egg-citement!

And when Dawn McMillan and Ross Kinnaird are in cahoots, you know there’ll be plenty of laughter (and probably some bums too)! 

Easter Bunny needs a New Bum! is the newest addition to the hilarious hit series that cracks up readers around the world. 

Early one morning, Red Pants Boy spots Easter Bunny in his garden – but something’s amiss: Easter Bunny is missing his tail! 

Well-versed in bum-related emergencies, our hero comes to Easter Bunny’s rescue with an egg-celent idea. 

He equips him with fashionable Easter undies and off they hop to hide the eggs: ‘Hoppity hoppity, cannot stoppity.’

But will they be able to sort out Easter Bunny’s bum issues or will he forever be wearing undies?

Number ten in the bestselling New Bum! series publishes on 13 March in New Zealand and Australia, and is already available in the UK and Ireland through Scholastic.

The author

Dawn McMillan is the much-loved author of many children’s books, including  I Need a New Bum!, My Bum is SO SPOOKY!, There’s a Crab in my Castle and Colour the Stars. She lives in Waiomu, north of Thames. 

The illustrator

Ross Kinnaird is an illustrator and graphic designer whose books have been published in many countries, many of them in collaboration with Dawn. He lives close to the water on Auckland’s North Shore.

Publication: 13 March 2025  |  ISBN: 978-1-99-004278-2 | RRP $21.00

Paperback, 230 x 215 mm portrait, 32 pages, colour

Activities galore in book that extends the fun of the hit New Bum! series

I Need a New Bum! Activity Book
Betsy Ochester and Dawn McMillan
Illustrated by Ross Kinnaird

The newest addition to the global phenomenon that is the New Bum! series aims to get young readers engaged and having fun.

Responding to demand from families around the world, the I Need a New Bum! Activity Book offers amazing mazes, word games, bum puzzles, drawing challenges, code crackers, jokes and more.

The cheeky young hero from the Bum books takes readers through an awesome bunch of activities to keep kids cracking up for hours. 

Open the pages to help him slide through a sand dune maze, blast into outer space in the best seat in the house, and figure out the punchlines to a load of bum jokes. There’s even a song to compose – ‘The Broken Bum Blues’!

Author and illustrator dream team Dawn McMillan and Ross Kinnaird partnered with US puzzle expert Betsy Ochester to bring this fun-packed book to bum fans around the world.

With the zany drawings and silly humour of the New Bum! series, this activity book will keep the kids — and the whole family — entertained for hours.

The authors

Dawn McMillan is the much-loved author of many children’s books, including  I Need a New Bum!, My Bum is SO SPOOKY!, There’s a Moa in the Moonlight and Colour the Stars. She lives in Waiomu, north of Thames. 

Betsy Ochester is an editor, writer and puzzle creator for children. Betsy has worked on more than 200 puzzle, activity and non-fiction books for children. She lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.

The illustrator

Ross Kinnaird is an illustrator and graphic designer whose books have been published in many countries, many of them in collaboration with Dawn. He lives close to the water on Auckland’s North Shore.

Publication: 5 November 2024  |  ISBN: 978-1-99-004246-1 | RRP $21.00

Paperback, 230 x 215 mm portrait, 48 pages, black & white

Eighth of the New Bum! books continues 'runaway success' of the international series

My Dad’s Runaway Bum!
Dawn McMillan
Illustrated by Ross Kinnaird

From the humble beginnings of a boy wondering why his bum has a crack, the 2012 book I Need a New Bum! has built a fan base of millions around the world, with six subsequent adventures published along with a number of bind-ups, sticker books and even a board game. 

My Dad’s Runaway Bum extends this hit series in another crazy escapade. Our hero. red-pants boy, is off on another bum-venture, but this time it’s not him that causes the trouble!

 

After eating too much cabbage and peas, Dad’s bum has had enough and blasts off in a cloud of smelly smoke. It takes off through the door, rolls ‘past joggers in tights, past bikers with lights’.

 

But our hero and his bum-less Dad are hot on its tail, following its smelly trail. And soon, the police get in on the c(h)ase …

Will Dad get his bum back or will he stay forever bum-less, with his backside locked up in jail?

The hilarious rhymes of Dawn McMillan and comical drawings of Ross Kinnaird crack up readers once more in this wild bum-chase. 

 

This eighth in the bestselling New Bum! series will be in bookstores from 5 March in New Zealand and Australia, with publication also in the US and Canada, the UK and Ireland.

The authors

Dawn McMillan is the much-loved author of many children’s books, including  I Need a New Bum!, My Bum is SO SPOOKY!, There’s a Moa in the Moonlight and Colour the Stars. She lives in Waiomu, north of Thames. 

Ross Kinnaird is an illustrator and graphic designer whose books have been published in many countries, many of them in collaboration with Dawn. He lives close to the water on Auckland’s North Shore.

Publication: 5 March 2024  |  ISBN: 978-1-99-004254-6 | RRP $21.00

Paperback, 230 x 215 mm portrait, 32 pages, colour

Seasonal fun awaits with the latest New Bum books

My Bum is SO SPOOKY! and My Bum is SO CHRISTMASSY!

Dawn McMillan

Illustrated by Ross Kinnaird

With trick or treating and Christmas shopping just around the corner, the hero of the New Bum! books is going all seasonal!

 

And when bestselling team Dawn McMillan and Ross Kinnaird get in on the act, fun takes over from Halloween frights and being polite to the rellies over Christmas lunch. 

In My Bum is SO SPOOKY!, a special pumpkin uniform gives Red Pants Boy what it takes to scare some lollies out of the neighbours. Then he and his vampire-costumed cousins round off the night with a ghostly surprise (no spoiler!). 

Meanwhile something isn’t right at Christmas. Our boy’s bum is too plain, and he imagines all the ways he could decorate it — with Christmas stockings, a tree, or snowflakes that glow in the night? 

Then he thinks again. Is having a decorated bum the most important thing at Christmas time? Santa may just have the answer in My Bum is SO CHRISTMASSY!

 

These seasonal specials hit the bookstores simultaneously in New Zealand, Australia, the US and the UK from this Monday 2 October. 

And in New Zealand they are available only via booksellers, as demand has exceeded our print runs already so there are none left at our distributors. Happy Halloween everyone!

The author

Dawn McMillan is the much-loved author of numerous children’s books including the previous books in the New Bum! series, Doctor Grundy’s Undies and the latest in her nature series, There’s a Moa in the Moonlight. She lives in Waiomu, north of Thames. 

The illustrator

Ross Kinnaird is an illustrator and designer whose books have been published around the world, many of them in collaboration with Dawn. He lives close to the water on Auckland’s North Shore. 

Publication: 2 October 2023  |  RRP $19.99

ISBN: (Spooky) 978-1-99-004243-0  (Christmassy) 978-1-99-004227-0

 Paperback, 230 x 215 mm portrait, 32 pages, colour

Fun picture book bridges the generations with tall tales and true in English and Māori

 

You Don't Know How Lucky You Are – Me i Mōhio Koe ki tō Waimarietanga

Belinda O'Keefe

Illustrated by Ross Kinnaird

In this beguiling picture book, Christchurch author Belinda O’Keefe joins bestselling illustrator Ross Kinnaird for a tale that connects young readers with the experience of their grandparents’ generation. 

Accident-prone Izzy is consoled and then distracted by Great-uncle Arthur’s tales of the trials he encountered when he was a boy.

When Izzy moans about unloading the dishwasher, her Pākehā    great-uncle says, ‘You don’t know how lucky you are!”

He’s always done something worse — having to hand-wash stacks of dishes, or dodging arrows in a battle. 

As the stories get wilder — like taking three days to finish a meal of tough food — his great-niece starts to wonder if Arthur may be exaggerating a little …

Lovingly translated into te reo Māori by Te Ama-Rere-Tai Rangihuna, You Don’t Know How Lucky You Are!/Me i Mōhio Koe ki tō Waimarie-tanga!  promises to give its readers as much fun and bonding as the characters it features. 

 

The author

Belinda O'Keefe is an editor and writer who lives in Christchurch with her family. She based this book on the funny stories that her dad told her while growing up. Belinda is a dedicated writer for children, and her other books include Journey through the Cat Door (2022) and Partners in Slime (2021). 

The illustrator 

Ross Kinnaird is an illustrator and graphic designer whose books have been published in many countries, and include the international bestsellers of the I Need a New Bum! series. He lives close to the water on Auckland’s North Shore. 

The translator 

Te Ama-Rere-Tai Rangihuna (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu) is a registered Māori translator and cultural advisor who lives in Wellington. A mother of two young children, she is a keen translator of books and shows for young people.

Publication: 5 July 2023  |  ISBN: 978-1-99-004236-2 | RRP $21.00

Paperback, 230 x 215 mm portrait, 32 pages, colour