No Home for a Weta product reviews

No Home for a Weta is a delightful book about a weta that goes on an adventure to find a new home. It features words like 'koro' and 'moko' that give the book a unique New Zealand feel. The illustrations are amazingly detailed and you can spend some time looking at them, from admiring the ants dancing on the post box to the double-page illustration of the weta hotel.

The story is about a young weta that is fed up with living with her loud whanau. She decides to try and find a new home and stops at a postbox, dog kennel, and outside toilet before finding a new weta hotel that someone has made. If you pay attention to detail, you will notice that the weta has picked up something along the way to decorate her new home: a stamp from a letter acts as a picture, some toilet paper forms curtains, and a piece of dog blanket makes her bed.

The writing is clear to read with some words in bold for extra emphasis. There is an element of rhyme to the text with some of the rhyme featured on the following page. This would be a great teaching resource for rhyme as some of the words rhyme but aren't spelt the same, for example 'said and fled'. Younger readers would also be able to read this independently.

I particularly liked the weta fact sheet on the last page. Not only was it very informative, but it also gave the reader an illustration of the different types of weta, along with a brief description of where they're found. Did you know that weta are older than some dinosaurs? I didn't!

Overall, this is a great book that would make a fabulous gift for an insect-mad kid, I highly recommend it!

I have been told that you are not a true New Zealander until you have been caving and had the pleasure of a cave weta sitting on your head. In fact they are very shy creatures and it takes a lot of patience to get one to relax and interact with you - I speak from experience! Luckily, the tree weta is far more accessible and a lot bolder than its cave-dwelling cousin. This book is about tree weta which is useful since any child who has access to a garden has the chance of spotting one. Older family members may be reluctant to go on an insect-finding expedition, but preschoolers have no such qualms and will happily investigate areas where these creatures may hang out.

My daughter and Miss Ten were both taken by the book. Miss Ten is interested in all aspects of nature and especially enjoyed the Wonderful Weta facts at the end of the book. She had not realised there were different types of weta, and although she is older than the target age for the book, she read it from cover to cover before going on a weta hunt in her own garden. My daughter is a teacher who works with small groups of immigrant children, so intends to take the book to class with her so the children can practise their language skills while learning something about their new country.

I like the clear illustrations and simple rhyming text which make it accessible to preschoolers who enjoy happy endings. Weta's first home is utter chaos, with no room for any personal space. However, the three new houses Weta tries are all hilarious. Miss Ten was highly amused at the idea of living inside a toilet roll, and the sight of the little boy sitting on the toilet and panicking because there was a weta looking out at him was just too funny! Toilet humour appeals to small children anyway, so I anticipate there will be a few giggles in the classroom too when my daughter reads this page.

The home that Weta finally moves into has everything anyone could want in terms of personal space and decor, but it is lacking one thing. It is very quiet! That is soon remedied when the rest of the family follow her, and because the new quarters are so roomy, everyone can do his or her own thing without imposing their fun on everybody else. At the end of the day, they are tree weta after all, and their original home was a very small fallen log. I cannot imagine a human child being content to live there any more than Weta was, whereas the new "hotel" is almost a mansion. I suggested to Miss Ten that she might even like to make one herself. She said she will think about it!