Bob DARROCH Little Kiwi Finds Fantail Penguin, 2014 unpaged NZ$15.99 pbk ISBN 9780143505952 SCIS 1648112
Bossy brothers are always a problem for little sisters, even if you are a kiwi. Little kiwi has been asked to find little fantail and little sister has offered to help ‘track’ the bird. If pictorial size has got anything to do with it, little sister is the younger one, but older brother doesn’t accept. Birds don’t leave tracks according to brother. Really? On the first double-page spread, a ladybird points to some tracks and so the conflict begins. The reader too is asked to join the chase as in each double-page spread, there is a lift-the-flap part where the reader too is asked to try and work out if what is hiding is indeed fantail. There are clues, both pictorial and textual, for young readers. Are they smarter than Little Brother, the young kiwi? Meanwhile, Little Fantail appears in the pictures and is puzzled by Little Brother’s apparent stupidity. Young readers may well enjoy this form of paper-engineering. Does Little Brother win the day? Well…both are smiling at the end. This picture book is part of a series of paper-engineered stories about Little Kiwi. Good for a bedtime read aloud for the younger reader.
reviewed by John McKenzie