Dreams of a Moa product reviews

When we first read this book, we fell in love with it. The artwork is amazing, the story is imaginative and compelling, and the hard cover format makes it a book to treasure. On the surface, this was a book that could take pride of place on any child's bookcase. The details in some of the graphics are nothing short of inspired: place names on the travel stickers on the suitcase are accurate (even down to the macrons!), and the nail varnish being applied to claws as the moa prepare to dress up are hilarious.

As if the story itself were not entertaining enough, the book concludes with background information on these special birds. We did not know that there were nine different species of moa, the tallest of which could grow to 3.6 metres and the smallest to a size no bigger than a turkey. I had always thought that moa were huge; it was an eyeopener to discover that there were little ones as well. We also discovered that moa had no predators apart from the giant eagle, and that they were found throughout Aotearoa New Zealand whereas I had always thought that they were found only in Te Wai Pounamu (the South Island).

The story offers various explanations for the reason moa became extinct. They shot off into space and the rocket exploded; they went to France to become dancers but fell through the stage; some of them thought they were too tall so tried to reduce themselves in a big machine, but instead emerged as kiwi. All of these fanciful ideas made us smile - after all, the story is about following your dreams so who is to say this did not really happen?

Once the adults had finished reading the story, we thought it was time to share it with the children. And here we met an unexpected response. All was well until we reached the page with the pirates cooking moa for dinner. Up until then the children had been thoroughly enjoying the cute moa exploits. Suddenly reality hit and Mr Four burst into tears, followed by Miss Five. They did not want the pirates to eat the moa! Even though they did know that this was the real reason for the demise of the moa, they somehow had not equated it with the sweet little creatures in the book. No doubt as time goes on they will come to terms with the fate of the storybook moa - after all, they do eat chicken!

In the meantime, we will put the book away for a while and try it when they are a little older. The recommended target age for the book on some websites was 2-5 years old. I would revisit this and suggest that children over six or even seven might be a more appropriate audience. Personally, however, I loved the book as did the all the other adults and older children who read it.