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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
emotional
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia
Moderate: Bullying, Violence, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Racial slurs, Medical content, Deportation
I've never liked children's books. They tend to reproduce a white middle-class ideology, blind to systemic injustices, and focused, instead, on propping up liberal values as universally experienced and/or desired. Judeo-Christian values, quaint British fluff or Randian hellscapes.
This book is different. It's a complex, intersectional work that, nonetheless, retains the playful and sincere approach of children's fiction.
Set in late 70's Aotearoa, it depicts a working class Samoan/Palagi family navigating a conservative era filled with poverty, consumerism, and systemic state violence on Polynesian people.
There's the haunt of poverty in nearly every interaction. The family sustains themselves on doughnuts, chips and burgers. Their trips into town are to places like McDonald's and KFC. The only time they eat indigenous meals are when the school helps organise a Maori hangi with the help of the wider community, or when they go to a family gathering with the Polynesian Panthers in Auckland. Without these community gatherings, they'd be trapped in the food desert of lowerclass geographies.
Against this poverty is a shimmering world of commodities. Sofia, the protagonist, pines after a set of go-go boots, after seeing them on a pop star on TV. She works for less than minimum wage to obtain them, yet multiple circumstances, not of her own making, repeatedly throw her back into destitution. What is striking about this is that she blames herself — for failing to save up, for buying this or that ephemeral object in lieu of the unobtainable. Deprivation is understood as self-generated under capitalist subjectivity.
Though these two circumstances are never overcome, Sofia and her family do begun to develop a political consciousness through their interactions with certain teachers, activists and police officers.
The dawn raids were a real phenomenon that occurred in Aotearoa. When the state needed workers in the post-war years, they loosened borders to let in immigrants. When the economy declined in the 70's, the state turned against these immigrants. They constructed a media narrative about foreigners stealing our jobs, sent police to raid Polynesian houses at 4am in the morning, and started deporting them (Polynesians were the only ethnicity targeted, despite being only 1/3 of the demographic of overstayers). These were people who had been welcomed as necessary, who'd started families and were, for all intents and purposes, New Zealanders, suddenly betrayed as abject, suspect, and undesirable. They lost their homes, their livelihoods, their loved ones. Families were split apart and left in a state of psychological terror. But organisations such as the Polynesian Panthers helped unite them though direct action, legal aid, community gardens and kai.
I didn't know about this until I read this book, and this is a children's book! I wish I'd read this as a kid. It would have grounded me, and shown me a history far more precarious, fractured and fucked up, than the official one about Columbus saying Maori people were really friendly, and then we signed a treaty. End of history bullshit.
I'm so proud of Pauline for writing this.
This book is different. It's a complex, intersectional work that, nonetheless, retains the playful and sincere approach of children's fiction.
Set in late 70's Aotearoa, it depicts a working class Samoan/Palagi family navigating a conservative era filled with poverty, consumerism, and systemic state violence on Polynesian people.
There's the haunt of poverty in nearly every interaction. The family sustains themselves on doughnuts, chips and burgers. Their trips into town are to places like McDonald's and KFC. The only time they eat indigenous meals are when the school helps organise a Maori hangi with the help of the wider community, or when they go to a family gathering with the Polynesian Panthers in Auckland. Without these community gatherings, they'd be trapped in the food desert of lowerclass geographies.
Against this poverty is a shimmering world of commodities. Sofia, the protagonist, pines after a set of go-go boots, after seeing them on a pop star on TV. She works for less than minimum wage to obtain them, yet multiple circumstances, not of her own making, repeatedly throw her back into destitution. What is striking about this is that she blames herself — for failing to save up, for buying this or that ephemeral object in lieu of the unobtainable. Deprivation is understood as self-generated under capitalist subjectivity.
Though these two circumstances are never overcome, Sofia and her family do begun to develop a political consciousness through their interactions with certain teachers, activists and police officers.
The dawn raids were a real phenomenon that occurred in Aotearoa. When the state needed workers in the post-war years, they loosened borders to let in immigrants. When the economy declined in the 70's, the state turned against these immigrants. They constructed a media narrative about foreigners stealing our jobs, sent police to raid Polynesian houses at 4am in the morning, and started deporting them (Polynesians were the only ethnicity targeted, despite being only 1/3 of the demographic of overstayers). These were people who had been welcomed as necessary, who'd started families and were, for all intents and purposes, New Zealanders, suddenly betrayed as abject, suspect, and undesirable. They lost their homes, their livelihoods, their loved ones. Families were split apart and left in a state of psychological terror. But organisations such as the Polynesian Panthers helped unite them though direct action, legal aid, community gardens and kai.
I didn't know about this until I read this book, and this is a children's book! I wish I'd read this as a kid. It would have grounded me, and shown me a history far more precarious, fractured and fucked up, than the official one about Columbus saying Maori people were really friendly, and then we signed a treaty. End of history bullshit.
I'm so proud of Pauline for writing this.
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia
Minor: Violence
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Police brutality
Moderate: Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Deportation
I really enjoyed this one! I learned so much about the Polynesian Panthers (whom I'd never heard of until this book) and the dawn raid injustices against Pacific Islanders. A part of history that must never be forgotten not just because of its importance in the past but because it has ripple effects and consequences in present day. Will be looking for more info on this time of racism and xenophobia in New Zealand going forward but this, even though written for middle grade aged kids, was a great starting point.
Despite this heavy topic, it was such a delight to read. It didn't feel darker than necessary and had tons of humour and joy. The protagonist was likable and quirky and ended up finding her voice and being full of courage and passion for activism. Her family could have been more fleshed out, especially her siblings who were sort of comical relief and nothing else.
Loved the references to 70s cultural touchpoints and political movements.
Highly recommend! *Thank you to the publisher and Libro.FM for providing the e-audiobook of this title for review! My thoughts are my own.*
content warnings: dawn raids (racial profiling, no-knock raids, wrongful imprisonment, colonial trauma), micro-aggressions, xenophobia, racial slurs against mixed-race people.
Despite this heavy topic, it was such a delight to read. It didn't feel darker than necessary and had tons of humour and joy. The protagonist was likable and quirky and ended up finding her voice and being full of courage and passion for activism. Her family could have been more fleshed out, especially her siblings who were sort of comical relief and nothing else.
Loved the references to 70s cultural touchpoints and political movements.
Highly recommend! *Thank you to the publisher and Libro.FM for providing the e-audiobook of this title for review! My thoughts are my own.*
content warnings: dawn raids (racial profiling, no-knock raids, wrongful imprisonment, colonial trauma), micro-aggressions, xenophobia, racial slurs against mixed-race people.
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Police brutality
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A great, Dear America-esque book set in New Zealand and about indigenous peoples' rights. The narrator's voice was a little inconsistent at times (wavering into "written by an adult" territory, albeit infrequently), but I found this book extremely educational and I think this would be a great book for kids!
funny
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Police brutality