A book written by two Whangarei women to help young New Zealand readers get the real story about kiwi has been shortlisted in the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards.
Kiwi: the real story, written by Annemarie Florian and illustrated by Heather Hunt, uses delightful, playful rhyming prose to describe how unique the kiwi is, the environment in which they feed and breed, and the things that endanger them.
Against nighttime backdrops as lush, deep and ambient as the birds' bush and coastal habitats, the kiwi characters live out their lives on each colourful page. Ms Hunt's illustrations expand on her "Backyard Kiwi" images that played a major part in raising the profile of the Whangarei Heads community's kiwi protection project.
The attention to detail, the lovely text and drawings and the book's novelty value are among reasons it a finalist in this year's prestigious book awards.
"We did follow through from go to whoa," Ms Florian said about the process of conceiving and creating the book.