Kea, curiouser and curiouser

“We’re smart. Inquisitive. And we don’t give up easily. We’re tenacious.” I think that sums up Keas quite nicely, but there is much more to these cheeky birds, capturing the hearts of visitors and locals alike.

Kea, curiouser and curiouser takes the reader right into the world of Keas, showing all aspects of their lives, from their long childhood, to cheeky exploits of unclipping washing from clotheslines.

The left-hand pages are written as first person monologue, in large font and simple sentences. The language used in the rest of the fact based text has left me wondering exactly who the target readers are, perhaps not the 5-8 years that is suggested? Scree, marginally, crevices, carcasses, extraneous, to name a few words that I wonder how many 8-year-old readers would understand without further explanation, a glossary would have been a fabulous addition to explain some of the complex words.

The digital illustrations by Alistair Huges are large scale and depict the Keas in all manner of activities, richly coloured and highly detailed, the Keas almost look like they could fly off the pages!

It is a shame that on some of the pages of text is very hard to read due to being overlaid over busy backgrounds, I found it difficult to read a few of the pages as the text was almost camouflaged.

This is a great book to read together with a younger reader, Keas are full of personality and this book gives readers insight to their lives.

The back of the book lists a link to a resource kit for parents and teachers.

Title: Kea, curiouser and curiouser

Author: Annemarie Florian

Illustrator: Alistair Huges

Publisher: New Holland Publishers

ISBN: 9781869665111

RRP: $26.99

Format: Paperback

Date of Publication: August 2019

Ages: 5+

Reviewer: Louana McCormack, Librarian, Opaheke School, Auckland

How are you recommending this book? Recommended

What’s the book’s opening sentence: Parrots, those clever birds capable of mimicking human speech and voices, are fond most often in the warmer regions of our planet.

You can buy this book here