From the back cover: "A child listens to Koro and Grandma as they weave a tale about the life and times of the ancient puriri tree Taketakerau... about the settlement and the development of New Zealand... and about world events over the last 2000 years. Taketakerau still lives! It grows in a fine stand of native bush in the Hukutaia Domain, then kilometres inland from Opotiki in the Eastern Bay of Plenty, New Zealand."
ISBN: 9781877577680, 1877577685
Page count: 75
Published: 2011
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: M. Anstis
Language: English
Author: Marnie Anstis
Illustrator: Patricia Howitt
A stunning large hardcover fully illustrated book spanning 2000 years of history as told through the life of a native tree in New Zealand!
The story is told in two parts alongside each other. The tree's story is told first. A child is listening to a Maori gentleman speaking the story over the radio. His grandmother is sitting nearby. She tells the second part of the story as she reads snippets of world history out of a history book. Along the bottom is a timeline so you can see where in history the story is up to.
Each page is beautifully illustrated and at the back of the book, there is a guide to the native and introduced species on each page.
I love how the book starts with the birth of Jesus Christ, such a beautiful beginning. The seed is also planted and the great tree begins.
The only misgiving I have about the book is that the two stories are not told together, but kept separate. A true living book would have the stories intertwined. The tree's stories are interesting and not easily forgotten, while world history tends to be read as a series of facts. So who is the story for? What age group? I would definitely say a much younger age group, but there is definitely a lot of world history for a young mind to wrap itself around for the first time.
The book has a website and an audio version of the book, I highly recommend the audio as it has different voices for the Maori gentlemen, the boy and the grandmother. Also on the website, you can see information about the tree and its location and where to buy the book.
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