Riwia and the Stargazer

Riwia and her family are facing some hard times. Her baby brother, Tawa, is very sick in Starship Hospital. As a result, her family have had to move to Auckland and are now living out of their van.

Riwia and the Stargazer is important because it doesn’t shy away from the difficulties and complexities of life. It shows how living situations can change due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control, and talks about how living in a van can be scary sometimes. It acknowledges that sometimes the people we love can get sick and despite being deeply loved, and doctors doing their best, that person may still die. It talks about the sadness that hangs around when someone we love is dying or has died, and the way that sometimes you can feel happy and sad at the same time. It brings hope as it shows Riwia coming to accept Tawa’s death and learning to look for his star as a reminder that he is always with her.

The pictures in ‘Riwia and the Stargazer’ are an important storytelling feature of the book. The use of watercolour adds a softness to the story, and colour is used to set the mood. For instance, on the day Tawa dies the background of the page is entirely black, the only page in the book like this. There is also a dark background when Riwia talks about how sleeping in the van can be scary some nights, but even then, the van is still given a warm, safe glow shining out into the darkness.
This book deals with hard topics like homelessness, siblings with terminal illness, death of a sibling, and grief. Due to life experience, different students will have different responses to this book, so I suggest treading carefully depending on what your students have going on in their lives.

‘Riwia and the Stargazer’ is part of the Whatumanawa Collection, a five-part series of books about aroha and nurturing the resilience of children who have experienced a traumatic life event. Each book in the series has been published in both an English, and a te Reo Māori edition, and also includes activity notes for parents/teachers.

Note from Read NZ Te Pou Muramura: This series features trauma and difficult experiences, including violence and suicide. There is a very good interview with the author on The Sapling, which discusses these books further. You can find this here: https://www.thesapling.co.nz/qa-linda-tuhiwai-smith-on-the-whatumanawa-collection/