You Are Here

This story takes you on a journey from the moment your eyes glance at the effective cover. The book starts off simply with three words “you are here” and a small image. It then ramps up becoming more in depth and powerful until, finally, a slow descent imitating how the story began using the same three words. The last three words are intertwined with Larkin’s art showing the immersion of both women.

Hereaka likens it to a Fibonacci sequence which I think helps to lead the reader down a path of connection between yourself and a Te Ao Māori perspective. The designs by Larkin further add a sense of intrigue and seem to emphasise and add significance to the poetic words.

This adult picture book for myself as a Māori woman feels like it is written exclusively for me. It is a reminder of what is truly special about being Māori and how important it is to feel connected to the whenua and our own breath.

This book would work perfectly in an English setting, especially in helping to show numeracy aspects within texts. It does this through using the structural patterns of the text, and the artwork itself can also help to show geometric shapes and patterns.

Overall, this is a pretty special piece of work and I enjoyed it very much.

This would work less well as a read-aloud as you would miss out on out on the pictures.