Kay Benseman reviews new Kuwi and Friends titles to keep your kids occupied on your holiday road trips
Rapua! I Spy: Kiwi Road Trip Games, by Kat Quin & Pānia Papa
Kat Quin has again teamed up with Pānia Papa (Ngāti Korokī-Kahukura and Ngāti Mahuta) to create an activity book for tamariki on road trips and it’s easy to predict its popularity. This small book is a great size for wee hands and won’t take up too much precious space in an over-packed waka full of children and holiday paraphernalia. There are pages full of objects drawn by Kat Quin to spy, as well as space for tamariki to draw in their own pictures and therefore extend the lifespan of the book.
With a map of Aotearoa on the back cover for tamariki to mark off places they’ve travelled and a warning at the front for anyone who is vulnerable to becoming carsick while reading, they’ve thought of everything. Kat and Pānia have now created dozens of pukapuka together and the combination of Kat’s cute and detailed imagery and Pānia’s excellent and useful kupu Māori is delightful.
Anyone who cares for children will be endlessly grateful for a fresh new diversion for long car trips that doesn’t involve crumbly snacks or screen time. For adults who aren’t accustomed to spending their annual leave with small children, this book will be a happy addition to any Road Tripping With Tamariki toolkete. With the October school holidays upon us and the long summer break looming, gifting this book to a family about to head off for a well-deserved holiday translocational parenting adventure will boost you to the top of their besties list.
Rapua! I Spy: Kiwi Road Trip Games
By Kat Quin & Pānia Papa
Illustrated Publishing
RRP $14.99
He Puka Ngohe Activity Book, by Kat Quin & Pānia Papa
Kat Quin has regularly and consistently produced beautiful and fun books for tamariki filled with te reo Māori and adorable creatures from around Aotearoa. There are 17 books they’ve worked on together listed on Kat’s publishing website along with gorgeous puzzles, posters and art prints (and free activity sheets). This activity book includes a bio for both Kat and Pānia that brought an a-ha! moment for me; Kat first worked with Pānia at the age of 18, illustrating activity books for Te Ara Reo Māori courses at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa and there’s definitely some familiarity in this book to those iconic resources. Kat’s illustrative style has since developed into her signature combo of representative-nature-drawing-meets-adorable-cartoon-character. Her colourful books are filled with kupu Māori thanks to the incredible Pānia Papa (Ngāti Korokī-Kahukura and Ngāti Mahuta) whose services to te reo Māori were recognised with a New Zealand Order of Merit awarded in 2023. Pānia herself isn’t a native speaker of te reo Māori and has dedicated her life’s work to teaching and sharing her incredible reo Māori knowledge. It’s always reassuring to know that the kupu Māori in any children’s book are accurate, macronised to enable easier pronunciation and will hold up in any bilingual context.
If, like mine, your tamariki love poring over their Kuwi and Friends Māori Picture Dictionary (released in 2020), either for the new vocab or the lovely illustrations, then this activity book will be a firm favourite. There are very few activity books available that are focused on whānau of reo Māori learners, so this is a stand out publication as it enables children to engage in Māori language learning either independently or alongside family members. But it’s not a dry educational resource, instead each page is packed with colour and interesting activities and I can imagine this would be so lovely for whānau focused on intergenerational language reclamation. As the kupu Māori are in bold alongside kupu Ingarihi, this is a great book for beginner learners who benefit from bilingual publication for checking comprehension.
I would have loved this book when I was teaching in primary schools as the eye-catching imagery and fun layouts of each learning activity is ideal for sharing with ākonga. I’ve been copying a few key pages enlarged to A3 to do with my tamariki at home and it’s been a good refresher for us all and loads of fun. We spotted our favourite Kuwi characters throughout the whopping 104 pages which are jam-packed with activities, including answers at the back to tautoko any beginning learners. This book will provide hours of learning fun with mazes, word circles, crosswords, cloze activities, word finds, colouring in, fill in the gaps, match ups and dozens of other puzzles.
My favourite feature of the book is a tiny QR code tucked away on the last page, which sends readers to a pronunciation guide with audio files for all the kupu Māori included in the book. I was excited to see ‘Te Kaupae 1 Beginner’ on the cover page, indicating that this hardworking team are planning this to be the first in a series of activity books for Māori language learners and whānau—karawhuia!
Kay Benseman
Kay Benseman (she/her) is a collector of quirky children's books and kupu hou. In the 90s, she worked in a bookshop and had a 40% staff discount, and her bookshelves have never recovered. With a background in education and the cultural sector, she is now a writer/researcher and Māmā to two curious children. He tāngata Tiriti ia, Kay is Pākehā living on Ngā Rauru whenua in Whanganui.