Author’s second book is a winner
‘A child-centric story which seamlessly incorporates te reo’
Levin school teacher Kirsty Wadsworth officially launched her second book recently, again available in Ma¯ori and English. Ihaka and the unexpected visitor, or Ko Ihaka Me Te Manuwhiri I Puta Ohorere Mai, richly illustrated by Zack Waipara, won the Storylines Joy Cowley Award with publication by Scholastic as the prize.
“It is a fun story about Ta¯ whirima¯ tea as the main character,” Kirsty said.
For the competition the story had to be fewer than 1000 words.
Scholastic published the book, and they were pleasantly surprised to discover that Kirsty, who published her first book with them, was the winner.
Kirsty personally organised the launch in Te Takeretanga o Kura-haupo¯ in Levin last weekend with special guests: friends and family from near and far as well as representatives from both Storylines and Scholastic, and with husband Manu Bennett as the MC.
Paper Plus was on hand to sell copies of the book.
The story is about a young boy, ¯Ihaka, who gets roped in by guardian Ta¯ whirima¯ tea to help him track down a lost cloud, needed for an up and coming storm.
“I have tried to create a relatable and friendly introduction to one of the guardians,” Kirsty said.
While the writing of the story didn’t take too long, the editing process, with many messages back and forth, took nearly six months, though no major changes were made to the story.
Scholastic also found Zak Waipara as illustrator for the book.
Kirsty’s first book is about Pu¯ anga, who rises in the sky prior to Matariki, and she’s already thinking about other adventures for ¯Ihaka or stories about other guardians like Tane.
The Promise of Puanga went through several print runs and there are close to 20,000 copies of the book around.
“That’s an amazing achievement for any children’s book author in Aotearoa,” said Scholastics Abby Haverkamp.
Kirsty won last year’s Storylines competition which had 178 entries from other aspiring children’s book authors.
The prize is for the text and the competition has been around for 19 years.
“Ihaka and the unexpected visitor is a child-centric story which seamlessly incorporates te reo,” said Eirlys Hunter from Storylines.