From the front inside flap: "The three Archer children, Tim, Nana, and Barn are left on their own at the homestead in Northland while their parents journey to Russell in the 1850s. Bern, the youngest, leaves the storeroom open one night and discovers in the morning that the wild pigs have eaten all the sugar. But Tim knows of a wild honey bee nest and the three go to rob the honey. There Tim finds a treasured greenstone axe and that begins the children's involvement in a war between two rival Maori tribes. The action is fast, and the bush and hills come alive with adventure and suspense. The story abounds in authentic detail, true to life in the 1850s, and never exaggerates the struggles for survival..."
This is Elizabeth Muriel Ellin's second and last book that I will review. Along the same themes as the first one, The Children of Clearwater Bay is about settler children living in Northland and their adventures.
This is a wonderful story of three children looking after the house and farm while their parents visit friends in the township of Russell. While they are gone, the children have all sorts of adventures from honey hunting, to finding Maori artifacts and stray cattle, and warning a local Maori tribe of an impending attack!
Here are a few pages so you can see how it reads...
I love the pencil illustrations by Elizabeth Sutherland, they are charming.
Unlike Ellin's first novel, the relationship with the local Maori tribe is more developed. This time they are not seen as the enemy, but rather neighbours. I also enjoyed the interactions between the siblings and their character development as they faced numerous challenges.
I highly recommend this novel for children from 8 years old. I don't have any content considerations. Sadly this book is very rare and currently an expensive collector's item. If you have a local second-hand bookstore that does not catalogue online, please ask if they stock this book, they may just have it at a reasonable price.