Don Long

When a girl and her family move onto a New Zealand farm they discover there is a battlefield there from the New Zealand Wars. The thought of soldier’s ghosts worry the girl at night but during the day they use the battlefield with its trenches as a playground. Eventually the children start asking questions about the battlefield and discover that they probably had ancestors, both Pakeha and Maori, who fought on both sides during the colonial land wars. The themes of mixed ancestry and what show more the war was really like and how to honour the memory of those who fought and died are explored. The book finishes with a page of information about the New Zealand Land Wars and there is a Maori translation, Te Tahuna, available separately. I liked this book; it covered the topic sensitively and honestly. I did, however, feel that the cover could have been more appealing, although I did like the other illustrations. show less