Dawn McMillan | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Children's picture books |
| Notable works | I Need a New Bum! |
| Notable awards | Storylines Notable Book Awards (2003, 2013, 2017), Children's Choice Award (2003), Booksellers New Zealand Gold Medal |
Dawn Mary McMillan MNZM is a New Zealand children's writer, focusing mainly on picture books and educational material. In December 2025, McMillan was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to children's literature.
McMillan worked as a primary school teacher, before beginning to write for children in the late 1990s. [1] She has written more than forty picture books and over 200 educational works, with her first work, Sea Secrets, published in 1998. [1] Her books have been sold internationally, including in the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada. [1]
Jason, the lead character in Jason and the Blind Puppy and Missing! (both published 2004), wears hearing aids and uses sign language. [2]
In 2012 McMillan published I Need a New Bum! , illustrated by Ross Kinnaird, about a boy who is anxious about the crack in his bottom. [3] The book has been translated into seven languages, becoming an international bestseller, and was the first in a series of bum-focused books. [4] [5] In 2018, a video of the Australian-based The Scottish Granny reading the book to her grandchild went viral. [3] [6] For the book's tenth anniversary, a bilingual English–Māori version was published, titled Kia Hou Taku Tou. [7] In 2022, a teacher in the US was fired for reading the book (published as I Need a New Butt! in America) to his second-grade class. [8] [9] [10]
McMillan is married and lives in Waiomu, on the Coromandel Peninsula. [7]
Picture book Why Do Dogs Sniff Bottoms?, co-authored with Bert Signal, won a Storylines Notable Book Award in 2003. The book also won the Children's Choice Award in the 2003 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. [11] [12]
McMillan also won Storylines Notable Book Awards in 2013, for Colour the Stars, and 2017, for The Harmonica. [13]
In the 2026 New Year Honours, McMillan was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to children's literature. [1]
McMillan has been awarded a Booksellers New Zealand Gold Medal. [1]
