Go, Green Gecko!
Book review by Trevor Agnew
Go, Green Gecko! (2015) Gay Hay, ill. Margaret Tolland, Page Break, Porirua NZ, 34 pages, paperback ISBN 978 0 473 27791 8
This large format picture book, by the creators of Fantail’s Quilt (2011) presents a
close-up view of a day in the life of a New Zealand gecko. After “soaking
up the morning sun” the gecko has the energy to hunt insects and sip the
nectar from the rata blossoms, always “watching
out for danger, looking here and there.”
The ever-present dangers are here represented by a kingfisher which
makes its swoop in a dramatic fold-out page. Gecko seems doomed to be eaten by
the kingfisher but geckos have a special ability that leads to a happy ending.
“Safe.”
The plants and insects which are so important to the
gecko are vividly portrayed in Margaret Tolland’s colourful illustrations.
Three information pages give background details on
geckoes in general and the Wellington Green Gecko (Naultinus elegans punctatus) in particular, including its
physiology and Maori beliefs about it.
Trevor Agnew
19 Feb 2015
Page
Break Ltd, 11 Te Ara Road, Pukerua Bay, Porirua 5026, New Zealand
Page Break [Brenda Martin and Gay Hay] discoverytime88@gmail.com;
Website: discoverytime.co.nz]
