Rākau: The Ancient Forests of Aotearoa

As the title suggests, 'Rākau' is a pictoral history of New Zealand forests from the pre-European to the present day. With short paragraphs of precise and informative text, together with detailed illustrations, it explores the “forest giants”, as well as the smaller trees, describing their different habitats. Barraud also tells of the traditional uses of native timber, and the flora and fauna that co-exist in the forest environment.

There are multiple illustrations on each page, with the kauri and rātā having fold-out pages to emphasise their size, but there are also details of leaves and berries to help identify and compare other trees. There is some Māori terminology used throughout the book, but there is also a glossary of these words in the end pages, alongside technical terms used in connection with the study of forests. At the end of the book there is a “Did you Spot?” challenge which gives the reader a reason to read it again in more detail. It would also work well as a read-aloud book.

This is a beautiful book, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.