Maria Gill (New Holland)
Running the Country is a comprehensive guide to the workings of government in New Zealand. Its layout makes it easy to read and there is a great timeline across the bottom of the pages that highlights important dates in New Zealand history.
It’s a great guide to how our democracy works and would be a fantastic resource to use to get children interested in their role as citizens, and how they can have their voices heard.
Louis, Year 4 at Te Aro School, said: “This book had lots of interesting facts, like in 1867 four Maori electorate seats were established, and it cost $18,825,000 dollars to earthquake strengthen the Beehive. The book is 56 pages long, has good pictures and is easy to read.
“There are very good facts about people and time, and prompts to google different keywords if you want more information. Each section profiles different figures that are important to the topic with a cartoon picture, I especially liked the cartoon of the Queen.
“I think it’s called the Beehive because it is sucking information from the computers. The people are the bees and they suck the pollen, which is information.” – Morgan Tresidder-Reed and Louis Reed
