Kekeno: Curious Explorer Katie Furze
Illustrated by Ned Barraud

 

 

Kekeno: Curious Explorer                

Katie Furze
Ill. Ned Barraud                                
Scholastic (2026)
Non-fiction Picture Book
34 pages, Paperback
ISBN 978 1 77543 967 7

 

‘Baby Kekeno sniffs the salty air,

Shakes his flippers and looks around.’

Kekeno is the Māori word for seal, and the young hero of this book, a fur seal pup, is certainly a curious-minded explorer.

Katie Furze’s lively verses follow Kekeno from his summer birth through his first year on a rocky coastal shore, so the book can be read as an interesting and sometimes exciting seal biography. Most pages also carry a text box by Katie Furze, which offers extra details or explanations, so the book can also be read as a non-fiction work describing the seal life-cycle, habitat and food sources. (It also describes some of the perils facing seals, especially the curious ones.)

 

Regularly fed by his mother, Kekeno grows in size and curiosity. He plays in pools with the other seal pups, while their mothers are away catching fish. The fact box explains, ‘Fur seal pups spend a lot of time playing. This helps them to develop strength and agility.’’

 

Ned Barraud’s cover illustration shows Kekeno as a cute youngster with appealing eyes. I have often met pups playing on the mole at Aramoana and I can confirm the cuteness of those eyes. What Ned Barraud’s other illustrations confirm is that eyes on the front of the head identify a predator, an eater of meat. Sure enough, by autumn Kekeno is catching fish and in winter he gobbles his first squid. ‘Seizing it with his sharp teeth, he swallows it whole.’

 

The illustrations are, as always with Ned Barraud’s work, both striking and beautiful. They are also accurate representations, especially the images of Kekeno raising himself on his flippers and galumphing across a football field.

 

At a year old, Kekeno is shown exploring an estuary and then crossing a busy road into a small town. Here he startles a cat which escapes through a cat-flap in a door. Ned Barraud uses a set of smaller pictures to depict the variety of surprises which follow, as Kekeno seeks a little shade to sleep in.

 

The conclusion of this book is satisfying, with Kekeno making his own escape and tumbling:

‘into the inky depths

of the cool wet ocean.

At last, he’s home.

 

With its easily-read text and dramatic illustrations, this is an ideal book for young readers and researchers.

A valuable bonus is the pages of information on New Zealand fur seals and their history at the back of the book. The Māori name for the seal, kekeno, literally means ‘look around’ which is certainly what seals always do. (Those eyes again, although the whiskers are sensitive too.)

 

Kekeno: Curious Explorer is thus a book which deserves a place in home, school and library.

Other books in this talented pair’s handsome series of Non-fiction Picture Books are Tuatara: A Living Treasure (2023) Ruru: Night Hunter (2024) and Pekapeka: Secret Forest Bat (2025).

There are Teacher Notes by Janine Scott for all four titles on the Scholastic website at: https://www.scholastic.co.nz

 

Trevor Agnew 

29 Mar 2026 [Review 3837]