The Proud Pūteketeke

The star in this modern New Zealand reworking of the ugly ducking story is an Aotearoa New Zealand native bird. The pūteketeke was relatively unknown until recently as they are found only in Te Wai Pounamu, the South Island of New Zealand. This pūteketeke chick found itself amongst a family of ducks and finding it did not fit in, it set off to find a new home. Predictably it stumbles across its own kind and lives happily.

While the plot of the story is very familiar, the introduction of this bird to readers and its remarkable features is delightful. The illustrations are vibrant and sharp and represent this stunning bird and other New Zealand wildlife admirably. Peter Millet has injected te reo māori and humour into the text with just enough points of difference to make it feel unique. I like the time he takes to describe the quirky characteristics of the pūteketeke to readers throughout the story including the unusual habit of puking up food—leaving our star with the label Chunder Wonder.

Notes at the end describe the rise to fame of pūteketeke following a campaign for bird of the century and information of its recovery from near extinction and protection efforts around Lake Wanaka.