One Weka Went Walking

Such a visually delicious book, One Weka Went Walking is breathtakingly beautiful. The watercolour portraits of the many birds native to the Chatham Islands leap off the page. Three rhyming couplets describe each bird as the weka comes across them. Each bird also has a footnote with a few more useful facts about them. 

This book therefore appeals on many levels. The poetry of the text with such sonorous descriptions as: “burrow carved deeply in dark peaty ground” and “wide-stretching wings skimmed the water” add to the appeal. All of this leads to a multi-sensory experience for children sharing this book with an adult. It has made me more desperate to go to Rekohu and see these beautiful birds for myself.