Thursday 26 November 2015

Piri’s Big All Black Dream


Piri’s Big All Black Dream

Jared Bell, ill. Jimmy Diaz

PuffinNZ  NZ$20

 
Piri’s Big All Black Dream comes covered with registered trademarks, copyright statements and an “official licensed product” holographic sticker. Because the story is a simple one, it is repeated several times. If you have a dream, you can achieve it. Piri, a little Kiwi boy, dreams of being a rugby star, so he practises every day, eats his vegetables and – er - dreams of being a rugby star. “No dream is too big and no dreamer too small.” After years of working towards his dream, “Piri and his team became champion of the world.” Yes, Piri Weepu wore the Silver Fern® as an All Black®.  Just as he dreamed.

A better book would have told us something about Piri Weepu. All we learn here is that his best friends are a gecko, a kiwi and (apparently) a kookaburra. Oh, and that he had a dream.

 Reviewed by Trevor Agnew
This review originally appeared in Your Weekend magazine (Fairfax) on 3 Oct 2015.

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