The Kiwi: Endangered New Zealand Icon

We are known as Kiwis; we have Kiwis on coins and stamps and even a Kiwi bank! But how much do every day New Zealanders know about our iconic bird? Well it turns out there were lots of gaps in my knowledge as I read ‘The Kiwi: Endangered New Zealand Icon’ by Matt Elliott.

Matt covers almost everything about Kiwis in this book, the different species, the relationship between settlers and Kiwis, work The Department of Conservation is undertaking and even a section on the rare white Kiwis. Everything young and inquiring minds would want to know.

The text is accompanied by rich full coloured photographs, many large sized that help tell the story of our national bird, I would have liked to see more photographs used to break up more of the text making it more appealing and accessible to younger readers.

I think this book is a valuable resource for the education of how we can protect and create safe habitats for our endangered National bird – a must for every school Library!

Title: The Kiwi: Endangered New Zealand Icon

Author: Matt Elliott

Publisher: Imagination Press

ISBN: 978-0-99511-045-8

RRP: $39.99

Format: Softcover

Date of publication: July 2019

Ages: 8 plus

Reviewer's name: Louana McCormack

Reviewer's Job title: Librarian

Reviewer's School Name: Opaheke School

Region: Auckland

How are you recommending this book? Recommended

What’s the book’s opening sentence? If you put six mad scientists in a room and asked them to design a bird that isn’t a bird, the chances are that they wouldn’t be able to come up with a prototype as unusual as the kiwi: a flightless nocturnal bird with nostrils at the end of its long beak, relatively bad eyesight, whiskers, it roosts in burrows, has some mammalian traits, the female lays an unusually large egg and the male sits on it.

You can buy this book here