Joan's Picks: The Bone Tree and Adventures with Emilie

The Bone Tree by Airana Ngarewa. There’s been lots of chatter about this one since it was published last week. It’s the story of two young brothers who are surviving on their own after losing first their mother and then their father. They’re completely outside the system - haven’t been to school for years and when CYPS came calling their father, while still alive, sent them away with a flea in their ear. Kauri is the older brother and it’s his mission to look after Black, the younger, - a mission which takes him into the unnamed nearby town where he meets people in unlikely situations and learns family history from strangers. At times it reminded me a little of the way I felt when I first read Once Were Warriors and made me wonder- after all this time have we learned nothing at all?

Adventures with Emilie by Victoria Bruce. The author was working in a job she hated, living a life she hated - unresolved PTSD and trauma - when she decided to give it all up and walk the Te Araroa trail with her seven year old daughter Emilie. It was a test of physical endurance for them both, but became a way for Victoria to reconnect with nature, create lasting memories with her daughter, and face up to her demons and find some healing. 

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