I have been on the hunt for these two books for the last two years and regretfully, I have not been able to locate copies anywhere. They are as rare as hens' teeth. So I decided to interloan them through my local library. One came from the National Library and the other came all the way from Christchurch. The cost was $25! Never mind, I got to read and enjoy these books for a short time and they were well worth it.
The two works are edited by S. J Woodward. The little I could find out about Stephen John Woodward is that he lived in the Canterbury Region and also wrote a book called, "Crumbs of Leithfield : history" in 1994. But he does devote a whole page in each book to Rhys Griffiths who provided all the stories - a devoted historian and teacher of teachers at Christchurch Teachers' College in the 1960s and 70s..
The two books were put together for teachers to read to their classes to teach history. Each chapter is designed to take about twenty minutes to read and comes with a full-colour double-spread painting to help set the scene.
I think this is why these books are so rare. They were printed in the 1990s as a classroom resource and were never made available to the public or libraries. When resources were updated, they were simply thrown away. Just maybe at the back of some school resource room, there are still one or two... but we'll never know.
For those of us who love living books, especially living history books, this is a tragedy. If I had the means of putting these books back in print, I would, they're that good.
Let's see some pictures...
Each chapter covers a story from New Zealand history. The beginning of the chapter is in italics and this is where the narrator just talks in general terms introducing the topic and then the real story begins. He explains things in such an engaging and easy manner, that you are drawn into the story and do not feel overwhelmed with the details.
Rhys also brings in a lot of New Zealand geography. You need to get a map out (excellent!) and find the places on it he is talking about.
And of course, for each story, there is a beautiful full-colour painting to help set the scene. Some of the paintings are modern and some are historical. There is a list of sources in the book.
Here are some more photos to enjoy...
The only misgiving I have is the books are smaller than I thought. They are A5 size closed. This is fine for homeschooling, but for a classroom, showing an A4 picture would be inadequate. I would love to highly recommend these publications, but because they are so rare all I can do is hope one day if you are able to obtain a copy, you can share it with other families.
Another picture...
