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.].