REVIEW
You could be forgiven for thinking A Christmas Waiata, by Shelley Burne-Field, with its cover displaying twinkling Christmas stars and a pair of red-and-blue jandals against a bright-green background, was a children’s book.
In fact, it’s a book aimed at a much wider audience with its humorous take on the Charles Dickens story A Christmas Carol.
In Shelley’s version, Whaea Ranginui, head kaiako at the Te Kōhanga Reo o Te Raranga, plays an Ebenezer Scrooge character, and the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future include Billy T. James wearing his famous trademark jandals.
The Christmas spirit is completely lost on Whaea Rangi who is becoming meaner by the second, increasing fees and cancelling the Christmas Eve party. Despite all that, themes of compassion and kindness run through the novella and later when Irirangi, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, shows Whaea Rangi just how grim her life will become, other themes such as regret and love emerge.
