Wacko Kakapo product reviews

This delightfully kiwi story 'Wacko Kakapo' gets full review marks from me and my daughter and her teacher too!

This book was given to my girl from her school through the Duffy book programme, as a reward for being a great reader.

She is 5 yrs old and came shooting in after school one day and said to me without taking a breath, "Mum mum you have to read this story, its the best story ever. My teacher loves it, its her favorite, and I Iove it too. We have already read it today, but please mum can we read it again..now!!!!"

And so I sat down and began to read it. I had never heard of Wacko Kakapo prior to this moment, and I have to say, I am truly loving all the kiwi versions of classic stories I read as a child, and Wacko Kakapo is now my favorite. The story is a take on the old classic Henny Penny, the story line/plot is the same.. yes the sky is falling even in this version.

I love the fantastic variety of animals and the fun and quirky rhyming names for them all; Peewee Kiwi, Go Getter Weta and more. And as the names are so fun you may (like i did) find yourself changing your voice to match each character, based not only on the type of animal but also their name. Its a lot of fun deciding on a voice to use for the characters, esp Gotta-Gloat Stoat. The names are not the only great things about this book. The artwork is fantastic, with the pictures and colours all matching that part of the story perfectly. And the new version of the original story is absolutely brilliant. Author Yvonne Morrison has done a wonderful job on this one.

This is a really fun story to read and my daughter really does love it. She made me read it again that night while she had her bath and again as her bed time story. In fact we have read it so many times now, I possibly know it off by heart.

As far as reading it alone though, it is more suited to older children who are comfortable with their reading abilities, as the names of the characters/animals can be quite difficult to get your tongue around, however with help younger readers would be ok, but they would need help for sure.

Definitely one to have on the book shelf.

The clan absolutely loved this tale. Very Kiwi version of 'Henny Penny' though I always it was 'Chicken Little' and 'Henny Penny' was about how only those who chipped in got to share the rewards. Funny how the mind starts to play tricks on you as you age, eh.
It was a lot of fun reading this to the little ones the first time, and it was really gratifying to see how they all adored it enough to keep it doing the rounds of the family for so long. Normally, if I lend out a book it comes back within a week, but this one stayed out far longer than normal, and will be heading back out again this weekend apparently. I have been told that if I am really lucky it will find its way home again before Christmas. At least its getting some great use as it circles the clan's younger bedrooms along with the other 3 in the series.
The story is endearing as always, and the artwork is stunning, though in a couple of places it didn't quite match up, like when the travellers met up with the stoat, the text said he was smirking but the artwork had him looking awfullt guilty in front of a broken-open door.
All in all another excellent Kiwi fairytale, but this time without the rhyhming, which made it easier to read out loud.

This book has been beautifully written and produced. It is a hard cover book that is very durable and I feel it will be a book that I pass on down to my grandchildren.

I had so much fun telling this story to my 3 yr old daughter. She thoroughly enjoyed it too. In hindsight I should have read it before I read it to her at bedtime as we laughed so much I had to calm her down again before she could go to sleep! Whoops!

This is truly a great New Zealand version of Henny Penny. Although when I was describing it to my friends as the story where 'the sky is falling' they immediately said oh 'Chicken Little'. Am I the only one who remembers Henny Penny?? This is a brilliant and accurate version from the original story of Henny Penny (well from what I can remember anyhow!)

The story is written in such a way that it is appealing to children. There are decent size cheeky and quirky illustrations with only one or two paragraphs per page which makes it easy on the eye. It makes a change from children's stories which just have text from the top to the bottom of the page.

This book definitely gives you value for money! I think it is a reasonable price because the book is made with great quality. And this is a story that wont go out of fashion so to speak.

With names like Wacko Kakapo, Peewee Kiwi, Go-Getta Weta, None-Truer Tuatara, Never-Fear Kea and Gotta-Gloat Stoat there is plenty of entertainment in this book. Try saying those names fast! Definitely a tongue twister!