Kiwi Baby

This is a delightful story about a young kiwi waiting for their sibling to hatch out of its egg. The opening sentence is a portent of what is to come: “One day when Kiwi Iti woke up something had changed.” The illustration shows us what that is - an egg is sitting behind the young kiwi. What follows is Kiwi Iti’s quest to find out what it is and what it will be able to do. It is an accurate observation (because it is the male kiwi who hatch the eggs), but also an acknowledgement of all the single dads out there, as the story is about the young kiwi and their father.

This book would be a useful one for children at an early reading stage as the vocabulary is simple and repetitive and easy to figure out from the context. It is also a fable about patience and a book that could be helpful to read to young children, who are waiting for a baby to be born into their family.

Title: Kiwi Baby

Author and Illustrator: Helen Taylor

Publisher: Penguin Random House

ISBN: 9780143773696

RRP: $19.99

Format: paperback

Date of Publication: 2020

Age Range: Picturebook -Junior

Do you have any advisory warnings for this book? No

Reviewer: Carola Crawford, English teacher, Karanga Mai Young Parents’ College, Canterbury

How highly are you recommending this book: Highly Recommended

What’s the book’s opening sentence? “One day when Kiwi Iti woke up, something had changed.”

You can buy this book here