E Oma, Rapeti - Te Rehi. Run, Rabbit - The Race product reviews

When I first read this book, I felt really sorry for poor Rapeti who kept hurting himself. He and his friends were all racing together, and every time he bumped into something, they all encouraged him to get up and just keep running. Maybe he was complaining about nothing much, but one of those bumps could have potentially been more serious. We all know how a dedicated sportsman can keep going after an injury, only to find once the game was over that he had actually broken a bone or done some other damage to himself.

Mr Five had no such qualms, however. Having already read two of the books in the series with me, he was convinced that Rapeti was bulletproof and would just bounce back from the odd bump or bruise. He does that himself, often returning home from kura with a scraped knee or bruised arm. Children do fall and recover easily, so I guess he is right; the benchmark is how loudly they scream and how quickly they stop again. In Rapeti's case, he appeared to be protesting without too much cause as he was quickly on his feet again each time and running with the rest of them.

Both Mr Five and I loved the way that Ngata the snail was included in the race. Somehow you don't think of snails as being especially fast, but this one crossed the finish line along with Rapeti. It seemed that this race was about having the stamina to finish rather than coming first as the other friends (Pukeko, Heihei the hen, and Hipi the sheep) all appeared to have got there beforehand but were still happy that Rapeti and Ngata had finished as well.

As with the other books in the series, the text in Te Rehi (The Race) is bilingual in te reo Maori and English. I particularly liked the way that parts of the body were named in both languages when Rapeti hurt himself; these are some of the first words that second language learners encounter. Although Mr Five is bilingual, he cannot yet write in either language, so this aspect of the story will help to develop his spelling skills.

The animal pictures are especially vibrant and cute, with true kid appeal. In addition to the five main characters (Rapeti, Ngata, Pukeko, Heihei and Hipi) there are several other creatures who no doubt are Rapeti's other friends. Mr Five thought Ngata was really special, and when we had finished reading, he went outside to see if he could find one. Unfortunately, the snails were all hiding, so he came back in and sat down to draw one instead. He loves art, and has great colour sense, so that was almost as good as finding a live one.