From the back cover: "In this book about Aotearoa/New Zealand, children will enjoy a view of history which was never offered to their parents; so it is hoped that parents and grandparents will read it too. It begins with the first people to set foot on the shore of these islands (who were they, really?) and comes right up to our times with the three-and-a-third-million who live here now. They or their ancestors have come from many parts of the world, but the center stage is taken by the tangata whenua, the Maori, and the Pakeha who originated in Europe. Events and changes are presented as the people of the two races experienced them and were affected by them. Being a Pakeha herself, Elsie Locke could not have written this book alone. Other historians and Maori experts have had a hand in shaping it."
New Zealand history books written for children are scarce. Sadly, you could probably count the number written on both hands. My search has turned up a couple including this one by Elsie Locke.
The history is written for children, "especially for young children", so it's a simplified story of how two people groups struggled to live together in the same land. The book needs to be read from cover to cover and dates are in the margins. I also enjoyed how many Maori terms were incorporated with a full glossary in the back. I learned a lot of new words and meanings.
It covers history from when the Maori first came to the land, to the year 1990. It ends with the Springbok Tour protests and the Nuclear-Free Policy. It's different from most history books I read as Elsie Locke has made a conscientious effort to write a history about both the European settlement of New Zealand and the Maori people who were already in New Zealand. I did feel at times I was reading more from the Maori perspective though. I am looking forward to reading other history books and comparing interpretations of the same events.
I do recommend this book as a history text. It covers all the major events and figures of New Zealand history - both Maori and white New Zealanders. It also covers early Maori, the arrival of Europeans, the Treaty struggles over land and the New Zealand Wars, goldrushes, ANZACS and World Wars, social change, being part of a bigger world, bi- and multicultural NZ.
Many New Zealand libraries still have copies to borrow.
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