Allen & Unwin
August 2026
ISBN:9781991142511
Publisher:A&U Children’s NZ
Imprint:A&U Children’s NZ
RRP: $22.99
This is exactly the sort of narrative non-fiction that we as educators love and that readers love equally. Ned Barraud’s work is new to me but given this extraordinary example I would love to see more.
Filled with action, high drama, danger, excitement, maternal instincts and nurturing Ned outlines the mother gannet’s daily quest for food for her growing chick. Capitalising on a pod of dolphins’ herding of pilchards into a seething mass, the gannet – along with other hunters including her own kind but also those far more dangerous – seizes the opportunity to swoop in on her prize.
The narrative is superb and the illustrations are outstanding, conveying the sense of the drama, urgency and risk the gannet takes each time she hunts with along the way. In the back matter each creature mentioned throughout is given a fact file, with the gannets themselves given a full-page informational profile.
We don’t often see gannets here in Reddy, more usually it’s the cormorants but, by chance, I did see one swooping from the sky just yesterday as I crossed our bridge and wondered what it might be diving for.
Certainly, this is particularly relevant for our Kiwi readers as it includes the Te Reo Māori name for each of the referenced species but is just as interesting for our kiddos of different language groups, who always love to learn new words particularly in other languages.
All in all, it’s wonderful book which I truly enjoyed and I have no doubt that your readers will also love it, whether as a shared read or independently enjoyed. A swooping, diving 5 𓅮𓅮𓅮𓅮𓅮 rating for this one, mostly for readers from about Year 2 to Year 4, particularly if you are undertaking UoI on the sea, or animals, of course. This truly is non-fiction narrative picture book at its’ best and I highly commend it to you.
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