A children's author who's been given the country's top award said female teachers and librarians are putting boys off reading by recommending the wrong books.

Joy Cowley has been made a Member of the Order of New Zealand in the New Year Honours.

She told Tim Dower writing, publication and distribution of children's books is largely in the hands of women.

Cowley said men need to be more proactive in these processes because boys have masculine interests at a very early age.

"They want books about hunting, fishing, boys and heroes stories. They want true sports stories."

Cowley said there's a big lack in the kind of material we're giving young boys.

She said she knows of boys being recommended books about a boy helping his grandmother making a quilt, and another about a boy growing sunflowers.

"What about a boy on the Titanic, or a boy rescuing a family after a family after an earthquake, a boy riding his dad's motorbike through a storm to get help, a boy hero in a war setting?"

She said she believes more men need to be selecting books for publication, choosing books for schools and libraries, and judging books for awards.

LISTEN TO JOY COWLEY TALK WITH TIM DOWER ABOVE