Kiwi Corkers

There's a great set of picture books for New Zealand children which are all feature a retelling of a classic fairy tale - but with a Kiwi flavour and twist. It started a couple of years ago with Wacko Kakapo (Yvonne Morrison, illustrations Donovan Bixley) which is a revamp of the Chicken Little story which characters such as Peewee Kiwi and Gotta Gloat Stoat off to tell Tane Mahuta that the sky is falling.

Since then there have been additions to the Kiwi Corkers series and as we head towards the festive season (I shudder as I type the words, but it is true) there are even more due to hit the library shelves and book shop stands. And they really are corkers.

I got my hands on a copy of Trev and the Kauri Tree (Chris Gurney, illustrations David Gunson) at the recent Storylines Festival and got both the creators to sign it for my neice (whose Dad just happens to be a Trev). It was the highlight of her Sunday last weekend as the traditional tale of Jack and the Beanstalk was spiced up with talk of Taniwha, Trade-me and chainsaws. It even brought a smile to my brother's face (he was still in mourning for the Warriors on Friday night and the Taniwha of Northland on Saturday afternoon).

Unfortunately this title has been ordered but hasn't arrived at the library yet, but you can still ask a friendly librarian to request it for you. In the meantime there are still some books in the series that are on our shelves. To find them just do a keyword search in our catalogue for Kiwi Corkers