1000 Steps (2025)                                                                 
W. Newton Reid
Pub: W. Newton Reid
Poetry-Novel
Paperback, 163 pages
ISBN 978 0 473 75662 8 

 

I’ll admit I felt trepidation at the prospect of reviewing this book. 1000 Steps is a novel written in short poems. It follows teenaged Amy’s thoughts and memories as she climbs the thousand steps of the title. She recalls her troubled childhood and dysfunctional family. She worries about her little brother Sean.

‘I want to protect him from bad things.
Like the bad things that happened to me.’

 

Amy, it gradually emerges, has been sexually abused by people she should have been able to trust. She looks back on her life and feels pain.

‘I wish my thoughts would shut up.’

 

Empathy is the key to this book’s success. Readers are swiftly drawn into Amy’s thoughts and share her feelings of powerlessness and grief. Reading W. Newton Reid’s beautifully simple poetry, we become one with Amy, as she overcomes tiredness and despair to achieve her goal.

‘I’ll focus on the steps,\
and nothing else.\ I can control that.’

 While her memories may be grim, Amy also recalls how she experienced positive moments, such as the sanctuary of the library where she learned that she was not alone.

Amy finds another sanctuary as she achieves the goal of her climb. The thousand steps have taken her to the ironically-named Lovers Leap, where she rejects the idea of suicide and instead lets a tiny wildflower - ‘determined, resilient, beautiful’ - inspire her.

‘You can be like that flower.’

 

Amy is given help on her climb after she has an accident and becomes aware that people can be caring and kind. With her thousand steps  achieved, Amy’s journey has a positive ending, where she meets comfort and hope, kindness and acceptance.   

 

By the end, I felt that 1000 Steps is a book which has a great deal to offer. I can see how teachers, librarians and counsellors might wish to put it into the hands of troubled teens.  It is compulsively readable. Each poem calls for the next to be read and so we are journeying with Amy.

 Not wanting to spoil the surprises and unexpected twists in Amy’s saga, I have left out many sections I really wished to quote. I don’t want to spoil the impact for readers. These poems are restrained but they have lines that smash like hammers and others that strike like snakes.

 The graceful cover by Quinn West perfectly captures the essence of the poems.

 Trevor Agnew 
30 Mar 2026 [Review 3829]

 This review first appeared in the New Zealand Supplement of Magpies magazine, May 2026.

 

 

The Urban Activity Book                
Rachel Haydon
Ill. Pippa Keel Situ
Te Papa Press (2026)
Information book
160 pages, Paperback
ISBN 978 1 9910721 0 8

 Unexpected isn’t a word I often use in a book review but The Urban Activity Book is full of surprises. Of course, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Rachel Haydon and Pippa Keel Situ are creators of The Nature Activity Book (2020) and The Beach Activity Book (2024) two of the best nature guides for young kiwis. The Urban Activity Book is the logical volume to complete this trilogy.

 About 84% of our children live in our major cities and smaller towns, so only some 16% live in rural areas. Thus, the need for this book is clear. The question is what sort of nature studies can be undertaken in an urban area?  Rachel Haydon literally has 99 answers. With degrees in zoology and marine science, as well as twenty years’ experience of ‘teaching science to children of all ages in schools, museums, zoos and aquariums around the world’ she knows how to get young people interested in nature. And, boy, does she deliver the goods.

 The book is divided into five main sections. I was only one page into ‘1. Urban Jungle’ when I had my first surprise: ‘With a grown-up, explore your neighbourhood once it gets dark.’ And there was a flashlight photo of a young girl, perched on a boulder by an urban stream, looking pensively at a very long eel cruising past just below the surface. It brought me memories of an eel circumnavigating my boots a couple of times while I was flyfishing at dusk on the Oreti River. At such moments, you suddenly realise that eels are graceful in their movements. I’ve had a soft spot for eels ever since.

 It’s that sort of unexpected insight that pops up in page after inventive page in this book. .

The discussion of mauri as the spark of life raises the topic of the caring for urban streams, parks and wetlands. I remember the general delight when a boxed drain in our Christchurch suburb was converted back into a flowing stream, with its attendant springs bubbling away. It is now the focus of a pleasant walk through native trees, with sightings of fish, eels, ducks and the occasional heron. In this book, young readers can find how to take part in such projects. Or even initiate them.

 Further on, in ‘1. Urban Jungle,’ young naturalists are also urged to spot representations of our wildlife in street art and building decorations, as well as to play ‘Alphabet Adventure’ or make recordings of some of nature’s sounds. Readers are not only offered the chance to use their eyes in a competition of ‘Urban Bingo’ but also to use all their senses to complete the ‘Sense in the City’ test. Rachel Haydon has even managed to work in the Springfield Doughnut as a landmark from nature, with an apologetic note: ‘Not from nature but too iconic to leave out!’  Yes, this book is also unexpectedly amusing to read.

 The next section, ‘2. Unexpected Nature,’ is about spotting nature turning up in -ahem- unexpected places. ‘Surprising Spots’ searches for plants growing in odd locations. ‘Creative Faces - Pareidolia’ involves seeking face-like patterns on wooden fences and other urban features. ‘Who can find the funniest fence face? Can each of you pull the same expression?’ Similar quests involve looking in supermarkets for products which come from plants, oceans, rivers, or from beneath the ground. Young eyes are invited to seek out sources of town water, signs which use nature symbols, and even examples of vines and lichens in urban areas. Textures, shadows and camouflage are all hiding in plain sight.

 ‘3. Pathways’ offers some great ideas, including creating local nature paths, observing seasonal changes, singing walking songs, taking a photo walk (or, intriguingly, a ‘Heads-or-tails Hike) and finding out about the past of your own district. An up-to-date touch is the reminder that a mobile phone can be used for macro photography which ‘lets you take super-close pictures of tiny things – such as an ant, a flower petal or a raindrop – so they look HUGE and show the details that you can’t see with just your eyes.’

I particularly enjoyed the way that amusing games have been created, so everyone in the family can play them during outings.

 ‘4. Create and Play with Nature’ unleashes the creativity of young minds by setting challenges to decorate trees, paint secret stones and transform leaves into animals or bracelets. ‘Create a world from an orange peel,’ urges the author. ‘Create a Nature Superhero.’ There are also ideas for stick engineering, potion making, hanging of mobiles, ink doodling with natural objects and turning egg cartons into personal treasure chests.

 ‘5. Re-Wilding’ invites readers to try making urban areas more encouraging for some plants and wildlife. Skink sanctuaries and bird buffets are among the varied offerings, with plenty of step-by-step photos and drawings. There are also ideas for reducing pests and being creative in how we use our urban spaces.

 Rachel Haydon’s enthusiasm bubbles through every page of her writing and is sure to prove infectious to her young readers. Her colour photographs of examples of the activities or objects being described are generously situated throughout the book.

It is also important to note the brilliant illustrations by Pippa Keel Situ, which really bring the pages alive. Her lizards and fungi are particularly appealing. She has also provided attractive frameworks for young artists and would-be town planners to get to work in.  The design is by Kate Barraclough.

Trevor Agnew
29 Sep 2026  [Review 3863.]

There are two glossaries, as well as plenty of safety tips, and a couple of handy pages suggesting materials that might be useful, many of them recycled or borrowed from the kitchen.

 The Urban Activity Book is a good present for young people who are interested in nature and a superb present for young people who are not interested in nature.

 

Trevor Agnew
29 Sep 2026  [Review 3863.]

 

 

 

Giant Heart:                              
How Jonah Lomu Became a Rugby Legend
David Hill with Nadine Lomu
Ill. Michel Mulipola
Biography, Picture book
36 pages, hardback
ISBN 978-1-77695-743-9

 ‘But the All Black crashes straight through him and dives over the goal line as the crowd roars and millions watch on TV.  Jonah Lomu has scored one of rugby’s greatest tries.’

 Giant Heart is the eighth in David Hill’s series of Kiwi biographies. These pictorial lives of high-achieving New Zealanders are deservedly popular among young readers. This fresh portrait of Jonah in action. Giant Heart: How Jonah Lomu Became a Rugby Legend is published in the same year that a moving documentary film of his life was released and the Jonah Lomu Foundation was launched to create opportunities for young people. Eleven years after his untimely death, Jonah Lomu is well worth remembering, as David Hill makes clear in his skilful narrative.

 

Jonah’s story begins with his birth in Auckland in 1975 and the six formative years he spent living with his Aunt Longo and Uncle Masese in Tonga. Returning to Auckland, Jonah excelled at sports, from sprinting to javelin throwing. Playing against him in a friendly touch rugby game, Eric Rush thought 14-year-old Jonah might make a good player. ‘But Jonah didn’t become good. He became great,’ comments David Hill

 

Chosen for the 1994 All Blacks when he was only 19, Jonah soon made an impact on the rugby world. ‘It sometimes took three tacklers to stop him. Commentators called him “a freight train in ballet shoes”.’

 

The colour illustrations by Michel Mulipola are splendid, especially the dramatic rugby scenes.  In one, Jonah is barging ahead clutching the ball and fending off five players. Mulipola also captures Jonah Lomu’s rise to international fame in three lovely cameos: Lomu meeting the Queen and her corgis, Lomu laughing at his own waxwork in Madame Tussaud’s and Lomu’s car being stopped by police who are seeking his autograph.

 

There was, however, a darker side to Jonah’s situation and Mulipola captures it in a sombre picture of a wincing Jonah clutching his side as he heads for the dressing room. ‘He didn’t know it but he was starting to suffer from a kidney disease called nephrotic syndrome.’

 

David Hill is particularly good at describing Jonah’s personality and his generous spirit on and off the field. We learn about his joy in loud music and fast cars, as well as his taste for Tongan food. ‘I love Tongan food. Taro, mussels. Yeah!’

 

Both author and artist carefully depict a 1999 moment that characterised Jonah’s impressive personality. Defeated by France, most of the All Blacks left the pitch for the dressing room. ‘But Jonah stayed on the field after the final whistle, shaking hands with the French team and congratulating them.’ I still remember that he also went over to the stands to talk to some New Zealand supporters. It was indeed a striking moment, displaying his generous nature. It is no surprise that so many people offered to donate one of their kidneys if it would help keep Jonah alive.

 

A kidney transplant did extend his life to 2015, and Jonah made good use of his last years as a sports ambassador and supporter of charity work, which is well described here in words and pictures. David Hill had the co-operation of Jonah’s widow, Nadene Lomu, in the writing of her husband’s life story. One of the last pictures shows Nadene with their sons, Brayley and Dhyreille, about to present the Jonah Lomu Memorial trophy, one of many continuing reminders of Jonah Lomu’s heritage.

 As always in this series, the book concludes with a helpful, carefully-detailed timeline.

 Giant Heart is a book to be welcomed in homes and libraries

  

Trevor Agnew
26 Aug 2026  [Review 3865.]

 

The Ocean Remembers (2026)            
8 Pacific Poets
Mila’s Books, 68 pages
ISBN 978-1-06705-002-3 $25 Pb

 

The Ocean Remembers is the book that you put into the hands of teens or young adults who insist that they don’t like poetry.

 Every New Zealander needs to be aware that our country is part of the Pacific, that Auckland is the world’s largest Polynesian city and that over 8% of New Zealanders identify as Pasifika (Pacific islanders). That’s over 400,000 people, the majority of them young; their median age is 24. Publishers such as Mila’s Books do admirable work providing readers, picture books and nonfiction titles that enable young Pasifika readers to recognise themselves in their reading.

 Which brings us to poetry. I was stunned, while reading Mele Nemaia’s recent book about Niue, to find that, although the island’s present population is about 2,000 people, some 35,000 Niueans live in New Zealand. I like to think of some of those 35,000 opening this book to read Henrietta Makatogia’s poem ‘Moui Haaku’ in Niuean on page 14, or in its English translation ‘Daylight Breaks – My Life’ on page 16:

‘Daylight breaks as the beauty of it greets us
The old rooster crows, waking the world around it
Mother wakes us; it is a new day.
Nearby we hear the rustling of the broom brushing, collecting leaves
the smoky vapour of open fires and burning mounds.’

 

The sharp images of this poem are reinforced by the following ‘Poem Background’ in which Henrietta discusses her writing in general and this poem in particular. Unexpectedly forced to move to New Zealand, for health reasons, Henrietta still feels grounded in Niue. Stories told by her elders and the Niuean connection with the land and the sea ‘became the roots of my imagination. Each time I write, I find myself reaching back to Niue, holding on to its lessons and sharing its spirit with the wider world.’

 Every one of the eight poets gets the same handsome treatment. Their poem is provided in both its original Pacific language (Cook Islands Māori, Niue, Sāmoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga) as well as English. Each poem also has its own bilingual ‘Poem Background’ written by its author. (The book’s designer is Liz Tui Morris.)

  Even better, at the back of the book there is a short bilingual biography of each poet, complete with a colour photograph. All too brief, these accounts show the commitment of the poets to their writing and culture. Although each writer is proud of their own society, they also acknowledge other cultures and traditions. The interaction each poet makes with other Pacific cultures, including Aotearoa New Zealand, is also worth noting.

 Here, in The Ocean Remembers, young readers can share the thoughts and reflections of other Pacific Islanders.

They can experience the rueful Solomon Islands memories of Ziu Freshwater, who paddled 20 km in her own canoe to school every week:

 ‘From when I was little
I was afraid of the ocean
The deep blue sea
The coral like sharks.’

 Or they can join SJP Afeaki of Tonga, who worries about how the ocean now threatens ‘the mangroves my grandmothers climbed through to gather mud crabs’. Or they can share the secret, passed on by Danika Thompson of the Cook Islands, that writing poems ‘became a way to give form to what I felt but couldn’t say – a practice that still anchors me now.

  At a time when Creative New Zealand faces financial cuts, it is heartwarming to see their support for getting such a lively and vibrant book published.

 Now, get it into the hands of a teen or young adult.

 

Trevor Agnew
2 Aug 2026  [Review 3856.]

 

This review first appeared in the New Zealand supplement of Magpies Magazine, Sep 2026.

 

 

 

Our Olympic Legends:
50 of New Zealand’s Finest
Joseph Romanos
Upstart Press 230 pages (2026)
ISBN 978-1-77694-096-7 $39.99 Pb

 

My interest in sport is minimal, but I have always made a point of reading Joseph Romanos’s sports coverage because he loves sport and this love shows through in his writing. His thoughtful introduction to Our Olympic Legends: 50 of New Zealand’s Finest explains how he selected his 50 Kiwi Olympians. He laid emphasis on the quality of each athlete’s performance, the quality of the opposition they faced, the longevity of their record and their ‘impact on the New Zealand public.’  An added factor was his special admiration for those who won individual gold medals; ‘those who’ve handled the pressure of an Olympic games alone, facing their greatest test and triumphing: a tribute to their ability and mental strength.’

 Fifty is a nice round figure although, because of pairs and teams, there are actually 98 individuals honoured. The book gives each of the chosen 50 a four-page summary of their lives and achievements, with appropriate Olympic statistics and well-arranged photographs, many of them in colour. Each entry is readable and inspiring.

 The first three ‘Olympic Legends’ on to the rostrum are Lisa Carrington, Peter Snell and Danyon Loader, whose stories are well known. Less familiar are such athletes as swimmer Malcolm Champion, who was so shabbily treated by organisers that his selection for the 1912 Stockholm Olympics wasn’t confirmed before his ship sailed. And, even then, he had to borrow money to get from London to Stockholm!

 I still remember the excitement at Sawyers Bay School when Dunedin-born Yvette Williams triumphed in the Long Jump at Helsinki in 1952, the first New Zealand woman to win an Olympic gold medal. Romanos points out the tension behind her medal-winning jump, as well as the fact that this was the first Olympics where God Defend New Zealand was played.

 A notable feature is the ‘Honourable Mentions’ section where Romanos pens a paragraph on another 62 individuals or teams. This list of valiant athletes begins with the first New Zealander to win an Olympic gold medal, Victor Lindberg the Fijian-born water polo player and ends with Luca Harrington, the freestyle skier from Dunedin. I was delighted to find that listed at No. 9 is Jean Stewart, the swimmer who won silver at Helsinki. As a visiting art teacher, she impressed our school by arriving during a bus strike by riding ten miles on her bike. At No. 22 is Neroli Fairhall, champion archer, who taught me how to use a bow. If a non-sportie can enjoy this book, imagine how much pleasure the sporties will have reading it in their quest for local heroes and role models. Those who can’t read will still be able to enjoy the well-chosen pictures, many of them taken by Andrew Cornaga of Photosport.

 The only drawback in this handsomely designed book is the lack of an index. On the positive side, this will encourage readers to leaf through and find all those interesting anecdotes Romanos has managed to squeeze in.

Dame Lisa Carrington has contributed a thoughtful and readable Foreword.

 

 Trevor Agnew
2 Aug 2026  [Review 3857]

The Sweet As Looky Book Donovan Bixley

 

The Sweet As Looky Book
Donovan Bixley

 

The Sweet As Looky Book
Donovan Bixley
Ill. Donovan Bixley
Little Moa
Hachette (2026)
Picture book
24 pages, Hardback
ISBN 978 1 86971 572 4

 This is the fifth of Donovan Bixley’s Looky Books, which speaks for the success of this intricately-constructed set of witty illustrations with carefully concealed games, puzzles and jokes.

This time Donovan is taking his readers on a quick tour of Aotearoa New Zealand. 

 The first puzzle task appears on the endpapers: twenty items which will pop up regularly in the illustrations. These range from a road cone (koeko rori) to Donovan’s favourite top hat (pōtae teitei). A typical visual pun is the surf chick (pīpī reti ngaru) which turns out to be a hen with a surfboard. Every picture also contains a gumboot and a kiwi.

 The actual tour begins at past and present Kororāreka (with lots of time-switching jokes between brigandage and tourism). Then comes the Coromandel, with a woolly traffic jam blocking SH 25, which allows readers to search for the numbers from 1 to 25. A typical Donovan touch is the trio of sheep having a cup of tea with lambingtons!

Each turn of the page produces a remarkable new landscape and a fresh puzzle. Waitomo’s caves offer tricky reflections, while twenty flightless birds are flying in highly imaginative sky-dives, just before we hit a Taranaki beach where 25 surf-crazy cows are cavorting.

Windy Wellington lives up to its reputation with flying hats to be returned to their owners. There are lots of fish to be found in the snow-bound thermal springs – but they are all chocolate fish. A whirlwind tour of our giant civic objects (except for the splendid fish of Gore and Rakaia) is followed by a cycle ride through Central Otago and a bird-matching excursion to Rakiura Stewart Island. All marvellous fun.

 Donovan Bixley’s pictures are lively, colourful and superbly detailed. They are also hilarious. Best of all, the solutions to the various puzzles are given at the end of the book.

 A tip for the parents and grandparents. When your young readers think they’ve finished The Sweet As Looky Book, get them searching for where Donovan has carved his initials. I’m very proud to have located his signature pink squid illustration. Enjoy!

  Note: the other titles in this series are still in print:
The Looky Book (2012)
The Christmas Looky Book (2017)
The Good Old Looky Book (2021)
The Sporty Looky Book (2023)

 Trevor Agnew
11 Oct 2026  [Review 3876.]

 

 

 

The Big Book of Kiwi Nursery Rhymes 

Kimberly Andrews

 

The Big Book of Kiwi Nursery Rhymes
Kimberly Andrews (text and illustrations)
Walker Books (2026)
64 pages, Hardback
ISBN 978 1 761600 91 3

 

‘Round and round the garden flies karearea

One swoop, two swoop, gracefully through the air.’

 Research suggests that the more nursery rhymes children are familiar with, the greater their chances of later doing well at school. Of course, this may simply reflect the value of having parents and grandparents interested enough to share nursery rhymes with infants. Either way, nursery rhymes are here to stay. Also here to stay is Kimberly Andrews, an award-winning author and artist; a Canadian Kiwi who arrived here by way of Borneo and Britain, and has showered us with lovely books.

 For The Big Book of Kiwi Nursery Rhymes, Kimberly Andrews has taken 42 familiar (or sometimes less familiar) nursery rhymes and matched them up with a total of 55 appropriate New Zealand creatures. Thus, in the example above, the role of the grizzly bear has been taken by the karearea, the New Zealand falcon. The accompanying colour illustration shows the elegantly-feathered karearea sweeping down to rest on a fence post. One of his swoops has circled a flax bush, so the highly appropriate harakeke replaces the mulberry bush:

‘Here we go ‘round the harakeke, the harakeke, the harakeke.
Here we go ‘round the harakeke, on a cold and frosty morning.’

 Don’t worry if you can’t recall the more arcane rhymes like ‘The Snail and the Mouse’ or parlour songs such as ‘Daisy Bell’, because the original titles are printed along with the new versions. Professor Google can even provide the tunes. ‘Tiny Sapling’, for example, is sung to the tune of ‘Frere Jacques.’

 Originally a biologist, Kimberly Andrews has used her broad knowledge of local wildlife to match each native species with an appropriate nursery rhyme. “Hearing the rhythm aloud helped me try out different species’ names within the poem,” she explains. “Then I would work up the rest of the rhyme to fit the species that I have chosen.”

 

It is the rhythms and rhymes which have made our nursery rhymes so memorable. Some of the new versions work well. ‘Two little Dicky Birds’ transfers to fantails quite smoothly:

Pīwakawaka chicks sitting on a stick.
One named Flutter, one named Flick.

 Equally successful is the matching of the royal albatross with ‘My Bonnie’:

‘Toroa flies over the ocean, Toroa flies over the sea.
Toroa flies over the ocean, gliding wild and free.’

 Sometimes, the words look a little daunting, as when the traditional ‘Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe’ passes on her domicile to a local:

‘A big wētā punga lived in a shoe.
She had lots of eggs and she knew what to do.
Out on the ground, where no feet would tread,
she laid all her eggs and went back to bed.’

 Notice how lots of biological information gets passed on in these revised rhymes. Several of the rarer flora and fauna get their moment in the spotlight. My favourite is that living fossil, Ngāokeoke, the peripatus or velvet worm, which achieves a perfect match with ‘Jack and Jill’.

‘Ngāokeoke climbed up a log to fetch a tasty dinner.
Hunting time, two jets of slime, and crawled away the winner.’

 That warm-blooded, cuddly mammal, the pekapeka (or lesser short-tailed bat) gets credit for fertilising the flowers of the pua o Te Rēinga (or wood rose). There may be a bit too much biology here but it brings poetic immortality to an overlooked creature. Borrowing the style of ‘Humpty Dumpty’ the pekapeka flew to the ground:

‘… snuffled and found pua o Te Rēinga, flowering low,
in went its face to help new wood rose grow.’
 

Will poems like these get mums and dads chatting to their toddlers about endangered wildlife and plants? It’s definitely worth a try. Certainly, the final poem in the collection is a touching and poignant reminder of the tragic fate of the huia.

‘Oh where, oh where have the huia gone?
Oh where, oh where can they be?
With her glossy black wings and beautiful song.
oh where, oh where is she?’

 Kimberly Andrews is even more skilful with pictures than she is with words. The book designer is Sarah Mitchell. To say they have created a beautiful book is a sad understatement. Each turn of the page reveals another marvellous portrait, ranging from the splendid ruru spreading its wings in the moonlight to the bee-laden pink manuka flowers.

 Other great features are that it is a comfortable size, solidly bound and printed in a typeface (IM Fell Great Primer) of a size that can be easily read by weary parents and grandparents.

  The Big Book of Kiwi Nursery Rhymes looks set to become a classic of the future.

 Trevor Agnew
14 Sep 2026  [Review 3864.].