Pukapuka Adventures

Journey to wondrous places between pages at Auckland Writers Festival’s family friendly events.

Pukapuka Adventures
Aotea Centre, 5th Floor

10am -12.30pm Saturday 20 May:

10.00-11.00am: Fall in Love with Books Crazy Cats, Bouncy Rabbits & Cute Friendships
Make friends with some adorable animal characters in this pawsome session. Laugh-out-loud at the misadventures of Jiffy the singing cat in Catherine Chidgey’s Jiffy’s Greatest Hits. Bounce with Boingo the bunny through Dylan Coburn’s Boingo and the Golden Balloon, and follow a heart-warming friendship between two dogs as Minky Stapleton introduces Roo and Vladimir

11.30am-12.30pm: Hear it in Te Reo
Bilingual stories about Koro, Kuia and Tamariki Hear three beautiful bilingual stories in both English and Te Reo Māori. A Koro teaches his mokopuna the customs around celebrating Matariki in How My Koro Became a Star and Kua Whetūrangitia A Koro by author Brianne Te Paa. Grandmothers of different cultures share traditional stories with their mokopuna in Renisa Viraj Maki’s The Grandmothers of Pikitea Street/Ngā Kuia o te Tiriti o Pikitea, read with Kanapu Rangitauira. Vanessa Hatley-Owen presents Farewell, Anahera following the wairua of Anahera as she journeys from her marae to Te Rerenga Wairua (Cape Reinga), with Hannah Swale.

10am – 1.30pm Sunday 21 May:

10.00-11.00am Fantastic Fun: Grizzled Grists, Spooked Cats, Desirable Dogs and Jumping Goats
Journey to wondrous places between pages in these colourful tales. Meet the mythical beast lurking in rhyming tale The Grizzled Grist Does Not Exist, performed by Juliette MacIver. Let a sweet toy dog and a scaredy-cat steal your heart in Emily Joe’s My Real Dog and My Cat Can See Ghosts, and jump into Amy Harrop’s Goat on a Trampoline with the mischievous goat Lily.

11.30am-12.30pm Amazing Worldly Things
Venture to the misty mountains of the Himalayas, meet one of the greatest scientists on the planet, and enter an imaginary wonderland with three books about our wonderful world. Ant Sang, the illustrator of 4 Yaks and a Yeti, written by Peter Hillary, will have everybody drawing their own yeti. Hear all about the ordinary New Zealand boy who grew up to shape modern science in Maria Gill’s Ernest Rutherford: Just an Ordinary Boy. Explore an imaginary land, not dissimilar to the Australian desert, with Gunai author Kirli Saunders and The Incredible Freedom Machines.

1.00-1.30pm Why Do Birds Do That?
True Stories of our Feathered Friends Why don’t birds get electrocuted on power lines? Why do they build nests? Why are all bird poos white? Why do they lay eggs? Author of Why Do Birds Do That? and all-round bird expert, Dr Gráinne Cleary will answer all your burning questions about our feathered friends and their curious behaviours in a fun half-hour session.