Whetū the little Blue Duck

This trilingual book also has a Mandarin Chinese title, being a new version of a story originally published in 2011. The NZCLW (New Zealand Chinese Language Week ) Trust commissions one NZ children’s book to be published in English, Te Reo and Mandarin Chinese each year. This is a sweet little story about a blue duck, who saves a tramper’s life by leading her to water and who is in turn helped by the tramper and her friends. They launch a campaign to save the blue ducks’ environment from being destroyed by mining.

The subtle and gently-coloured illustrations portray elements of the New Zealand environment, particularly our mountains and rivers in a sympathetic way and Renee Haggo conveys emotion very well on the faces of her people and animals. This book, therefore provides a useful starting point for class discussions on a variety of topics. Emotions, loneliness, safety, natural resources, competing needs, humans vs animals, to name just a few.