Kowhai Kids product reviews

Kowhai Kids is a beautifully written book by Marion Day. It is a book about New Zealands own Kowhai tree. The Kowhai kids are the flowers of the tree who return in the spring. They know everything about the Kowhai trees and through out the book describe the creatures and birds that visit the trees and the importance of their visit. They also tell the reader about what happens to the tree during spring, the season in which the story is set.

The book contains a lot of information about the Kowhai tree and its visitors. This was interesting for master 8 who throughly enjoyed the book and understood that the Kowhai kids were the flowers of the tree. Miss 5 on the other hand didn't really understand the story and although we finished the book had lost interest towards the end.

The book is illustrated by Anna Evens. The illustrations in the book are amazing, especially the birds and the colours and detail used to show them off. Both kids loved the pictures with miss 5 telling me how beautiful the birds were.

The book itself is very well made. It has thick smooth pages which have a shine to them. For $20 I think this is a wonderful book. I particularly like the information at the start of the book about the Kowhai tree and the how to grow a Kowhai tree at the end. Overall it is a very informative book. This is the sort of book that I would purchase to send overseas to family and friends not living or from New Zealand. A very informative and fun book about the beautiful New Zealand tree the Kowhai.

Kowhai Kids is a delightful children's picture book showcasing NZ's own beautiful Kowhai tree and some of our beautiful native birds the Kereru and Tui. Crafted in a clever way to teach children some fascinating facts about the Kowhai tree while still retaining an easy to read and understand fun format. While non fiction texts can often seem daunting to both a young child and the parent reading it Kowhai Kids provides all the factual information in a story telling format that keeps children interested and having fun. My children loved the book and learning about Kowhai trees and how they grow.

The Kowhai kids are the flowers of the Kowhai tree dancing around the tree, they know their tree better than anyone so can tell the reader everything there is to know about their special tree and the birds and bees that have an important role in helping it grow. This teaches children the important jobs the birds and bees do in helping our trees and plants to grow. I love to have books with a New Zealand theme for my kiwi kids and books that show off our beautiful native species are especially important to me and my children as we love nature.

My 7 year old is very keen to have a go at growing a kowhai tree after reading the instructions provided in the back of the book, and the step by step instructions make it seem like a relatively easy process that I can do with him. Am more than happy to encourage him to grow a beautiful tree that we can then plant to admire for years to come. This is such a neat addition to the story and I am glad Marion took the time to include these instructions as it was certainly one of the highlights for my 7 year old.