Trev and the Kauri Tree product reviews

I figured out by about page three that this might well be a kiwified version of Jack and the Beanstalk and by then I and my little misses were already captivated by it.

This book is absolutely fantastic. I love so many things about it. Firstly the illustrations are absolutely perfect. They are colourful and Kiwified. The illustrations are perfect with the story and my Miss Three especially loves "reading" this to herself and looking at the pictures.

The story is told in rhyme and tells the story of Jack and his mum with a kauri tree instead of a beanstalk and lots of iconic kiwiana such as a kiwi, pavlova, greenstone, taniwha etc. You can see that a lot of thought had been put into this story, the rhyming and into the illustrations and I think it has paid off. In my family this book has been requested for bedtime reading every night.

I would go so far as to say that this is a must for every kiwi book shelf. It is the loveliest book and I just love how it has been adapted to a New Zealand audience. A very talented author and a very special book. I can definitely recommend buying this. I think that this book will be read many, many times in our house and will be one of those books that stays on the bookshelf for future generations to enjoy.

I saw that Trev and the Kauri Tree was up for review (the paperback edition published in July 2014) and I requested it as the word 'Kauri' caught my attention. I love the chance to share books that have a kiwi slant with my children. I didn't know anything else about the book at that stage so was excited to see what it was all about.

I shared the book with my own two children (4 and 2) and my niece and nephew (11 and 9). They all enjoyed listening to it (the 2 year old did her usual thing and listened to some of it, wandered and then came back for some more). When we were part the way through reading one of the older children noticed that it was a similar story to Jack and the Beanstalk. Excellent, a known story which has been adapted to our kiwi heritage. The use of the kauri tree, taniwha, greenstone, hangi-pit and Trade Me are all things that those of us in New Zealand are able to relate to. In fact, it seemed funny to be reading references to Trade Me in a book and I had to have a little giggle.

The rhyme and rhythm of the words work nicely and are easy to read. There are some nice juicy words used in the book and many of the words are the way that we speak in everyday life in New Zealand. The lovely adjectives used in the story could form good discussion in a classroom (or with children at home) about descriptive language and how to use adjectives. We enjoyed the repetitive section in the book, "yum, yum, whats that pong...". The children joined in with me as I read it just like they would if it was "fe-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman...". The only negative comment I would make about the words in the book was the use of "what the heck" toward the end of the book. Although it may fit in with the way people talk here, I felt it unnecessary in a children's book.

The line across the face of each of the character's was a little strange and made the characters look grumpy. I guess I could understand it at the beginning of the book when the characters were sad because of the lack of money in the house. The line continued even when Trev and his Mum were happy at the end. Perhaps the faces could have worked better without the lines. I did like the images of the taniwha and the kiwi.

The story ends on a happy note with Trev and his Mum having dinner together. I liked the addition of the kiwi favourite, a pavlova with kiwifruit, in the illustration on the final page.

I think that the price-tag, for the paperback edition, of $12 is affordable to add to the book collection at home or to give as a gift.

We picked this up at the local library recently. I've read a couple of other kiwi adaptions of classic stories over the last couple of months. So when this one fell in my lap (daughter dropped it there), I thought why not give this one a go too.

We took this home and it got read several times over the time we had it out. I liked the story. It was very kiwi language, which made it funny for me and the kid. The illustrations were simple, didn't set my world on fire, but they worked with the story just fine.

The book was quite long, which I didn't like when she picked it and was already well late to bed. But that wasn't exactly the books fault! Overall, really enjoyed the book. Great adaptation and can't wait to try more in the series.

This book rocks!!! I love it! And so does my 3yr old! Just wait until you get your Taniwha voice out, you'll love it too!

This is a hard cover book, like the rest in the Kiwi Corker series. Trev and the Kauri Tree is the very Kiwi version of Jack and the Beanstalk.

Throughout the book it is full of wee rhymes, my favourite being the Taniwha's fierce Yum Yum what's that pong, Something here does not belong, Catch him nibble him bit by bit, Fling him in the Hangi pit!

The illustrations are quirky and very kiwified, if that's even a word. These books are definitely keepers for the future generations. Well Done!!