From the back cover: "In an old pohutukawa tree between the forest and the sea live two tiny Pohutukawa Babies, Hutu and Kawa. With the help of Grandpa Kiwi, Hutu and Kawa build a canoe and set off up the river to explore the forest. On their way, they make many new friends - and encounter the fearsome Bush Hawk."
ISBN-10: 0143507052
Format: Hardcover
Number Of Pages: 32
Published: 18th November 2015
Publisher: Penguin NZ
In Australia, families still love to read the books about the Gumnut Babies by May Gibbs. Inspired by these books, Avis Acres set out to create some lovable characters set in the New Zealand bush and teach children about the local flora and fauna. It started as a comic strip in the newspaper and later developed into three full-length picture books. The one above is the first and it was re-released in 2015 as a beautiful padded hardback gift book.
I love this book and I highly recommend it as an introduction to New Zealand's nature for very young readers. I think this book should be on every family's bookshelf.
This is why I love this living book:
The magic of the babies and fairies in the story creates a sense of wonder about nature.
The story introduces children to New Zealand birds, animals, trees and flowers.
It introduces nature in story form which children will easily remember.
The story is delightful and memorable.
The illustrations are lovely and depict nature accurately.
The only misgiving is the quality of some of the illustrations. They obviously have been lifted from old prints and not the original watercolours.
There are still lots of copies around - new and secondhand. There are two other books in the series as well - Hutu and Kawa meet Tuatara and Hutu and Kawa Find an Island. If you see a copy of "Opo the Gay Dolphin" by Avis Acres, let me know. I would love to see it. She also wrote a series of nature books for schools which are extremely rare. If you see those, let me know.
When I move back to New Zealand I'm going to spend some time in the National Library researching a column Avis wrote for the Forst and Bird Magazine in the 1980s called, "Birds I Have Met". I think there will be some great "living" writing and illustrations there.
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