Kakapo Keeper

Gay Buckingham's Kakapo Keeper is a historical adventure for 9 year olds, told through the diary of a boy sent to the wild edge of New Zealand to save its birds.

What happens

It's 1894. Andrew Burt is the paid assistant to Mr Richard Henry, the new Chief Conservator at Dusky Sound. Their job is to catch kākāpō and kiwi on the mainland and ferry them across to Resolution Island, where no rats or stoats can follow.

Andrew thought it would be exciting. Then he gets there. Rain, rats, millions of sandflies and not another person for miles. Nobody warned him about the gardening either (he HATES gardening).

Every chapter opens with his tallies. Bird tally, nought. Injuries tally, four. It's such a lovely touch. His bites and bumps and grumbles are funny, and you can hear how much he misses home, his four sisters and his mother's stew with dumplings.

He gives Mr Henry nicknames too. Mr No-Jokes Henry. Mr Knowledgeable Henry. Mr Don't-Waste-Words Henry. It's like being let in on a private joke.

Slowly, though, the place gets under his skin. He learns to row and sail. He sees dolphins and wrens and fiords so still it feels as if the world has forgotten them. An earthquake shakes the whole fiord and sets off a landslide. And one day he nearly treads on a kākāpō, the first he's ever been close to, and it smells of horses and straw. Who knew a parrot could smell cosy?

Worth knowing before you hand it over

In the very first chapter their dog Lassie kills a family of weka, and it's described plainly, feathers and blood and all. A child who finds harm to animals upsetting might struggle with that opening. It happens early, and it matters, because the whole point of being there is to keep these birds alive.

The book is built on the real history of Richard Henry's work, so there's plenty for a young naturalist or a history fan to get stuck into. If your reader loves the outdoors, animals and a narrator who grumbles a lot but tries very hard, they'll love Andrew.

What to read next

If this one goes down well, they might like Journey to the River Sea. It's another story of a young person sent across the world to somewhere wild, this time a girl called Maia heading off to live on the Amazon.