A recent fundraising effort for our school library gave me the impetus needed to get our kid-lit section off the ground. We will soon be reshaping the site a tad to accommodate this, but meanwhile will be putting up some reviews from the children and teachers of Laingholm Primary in West Auckland.

One of the people involved in our school’s recent Book Week was Tim Tipene, who came to talk about his writing to several of our classes. A charismatic and inspiring speaker, he had the kids roaring with laughter, yelling at the tops of their voices at taniwha, and then took ‘em straight into pure, rapt concentration on his stories. No mean feat, I can assure you…

The story that had the littlies yelling at taniwha is about bullying in school. All Tim’s books have a message, and for the ones aimed at younger kids the message is simple and clear. It's not so obvious that they can’t work at it a little though – which gives them a sense of accomplishment, something Tim is very concerned about.

Taming the Taniwha (Huia Publishing) is about Tama, who is being hassled by a boy at school – the usual stuff: nicking lunches, water bombing, etc – and he talks to friends and family about the right way to deal with it. None of it seems to work, until an old uncle decides that the bully is a taniwha that needs to be tamed, and suggests what seems like a ridiculous way to do it. It involves love and sharing, and it works, but it’s definitely not girly! This theme generated lots of discussion and fun.

Taming the Taniwha was selected for the White Ravens International Youth Library Catalogue as one of the world's top 250 children's books for 2002.

Tim’s latest book out is Kura Toa Warrior School (Reed Publishing). It’s a new direction for Tim, into young adult fiction. This was reviewed by Anna Little, a part-time teacher at Laingholm:

When Haki finds himself upside down in a car wreck, talking to an old man who is more interested in helping himself to Haki’s precious pounamu than helping Haki, he is not even sure if he cares.

Haki’s search for the old man and the pounamu, a gift from his dearly loved Nana, leads him down a path of self discovery and learning. Is he able to be the warrior he needs to be to confront his fears and to answer the challenge to serve his people and his land?

Kura Toa is a coming-of-age story which gives us a glimpse inside a teenage boy’s world and the feelings and relationships which go along with that. It is not a long story, making it easy to read. It manages to pack a lot in evoking empathy for Haki and the struggles he faces.

This story, while insightful for both boys and girls, would be especially enjoyed by boys embarking on their own teenage journey!

Tim’s got a new children’s picture book, Haere, out through Huia Publishers quite soon. It’s a story of a death, and a birth; it's quite powerful – unsentimental, but calming. It would be a great book for helping children work through a family loss.

I’ve got a feeling we’ll be hearing a lot more from Tim Tipene. Hopefully he’ll be able to channel his energies equally into writing and working on his Warrior Kids programme, which aims to get at-risk kids on their way to becoming strong young people who don’t need to resort to violence. It’s all good. Very good. Get him in to your school and you’ll see what I mean. We think the bloke’s well on his way to becoming a national treasure.

Big thanks are due to Peter Dowling at Reed Publishing for organising review copies of books, and for putting us on to Tim.