My Family Tree - My Whanau and Me product reviews

Miss Five and her grandad had a wonderful time reading this book together. He has been on a year-long journey to hone his skills in Te Reo Maori, and when he found the text was in both Te Reo and English, he was delighted to share it with his grand-daughter. Books like this are a taonga as they are perfect for those who are bilingual. but also provide a welcome prop for those who are less fluent. Watching her grandad as he approached the story with confidence was inspirational for Miss Five to see.

The book is beautifully presented, with magnificent illustrations. There is even a link to download the song that accompanies it. Miss Five thought the "hairy armpit tree" was especially funny; she giggled every time she looked at the picture. The overall message of the story is that of the importance of family. Children's interest is sustained through the different ethnicities of the main characters, and the things that are important for their personal identities.

Most classrooms in Aotearoa New Zealand today boast a mixture of races and cultures, and learning about one another can provide a valuable social experience. Children are naturally curious about one another, accepting differences readily as part of each person's uniqueness. It is only when they are adults that racism and prejudices can creep in. The aim of a story like this is to teach in a fun way about the strength in diversity and the normalising of individual differences.

Small details in hair style, dress, and skin tone highlight each child's ethnicity. The link between trees is the uniform colour and swirly pattern of the trunks; the leaves and fruit are different but the basic trees are the same, representing the way humans have more in common than they have differences. Even the Pasifika trees, whose trunks deviate from the twirly lines of the others, echo them in their colours and vertical patterns. As they join in with the downloaded song, children can pretend to be trees too, waving their "branches" just like the children in the story.

Even though the story is bilingual, there is also a Maori-English wordlist included at the end. The streaming song is presented separately so that children choose to sing (or whistle!) along to one or to both in turn. Singing is a proven method of learning new words quickly, but it is much better when you know the story and can dance along as well. Miss Five is going to get a lot of fun out of this book, and as time goes by, her little brother will also enjoy it. Not to mention grandad!