Para Pūkeko is hanging out in her favourite place and home – the local rubbish dump. It’s particularly good when a new load of rubbish arrives for Para to raid. In her excitement, she dives into the new rubbish with her beak wide open. What she isn’t expecting to find is a strange device with an arrow and a big red button on it.

A big red button? Para instantly thinks to push this button. Whooooaaa!

Crash! Para Pūkeko lands millions of years back in time, just as an enormous meteor is heading for Earth.

The first creature she meets is a small green lizard type creature she quickly figures is a tuatara. And sure enough, and with the help of the Time Thingy, both Para and Heahea the Tuatara, survive the event that wipes out all the other dinosaurs.

Heahea and Para begin travelling forward in time, and Para tries to get back to her beloved dump. They meet Moa, Huia and even survive a very angry mother Pouākai (A flying bird even bigger than a moa – also called Haast’s Eagle). Huia is very clever and concerned about species vanishing after humans arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand. Heahea and Para make things much worse, before leaping ahead in time to see white men discovering New Zealand.

Again these two hilarious NZ native creatures cause havoc in history, before finally getting back to Para’s home. But is it her home as she knew it….?

This bright, funny graphic novel will be a wonderful first foray into Aotearoa New Zealand history. Characters Para Pūkeko and Heahea the Tuatara leap through time, causing chaos everywhere they land. After the Triassic period, they move forward together to 1445 and 1642, experiencing key moments in NZ history. These can be enjoyed, then researched in class or at home for the correct events.

This is a great way to capture readers 7+ with the NZ history curriculum coming into effect in schools. 

Both Para and Heahea are hilarious, and I cringed at their antics and laughed at others. The illustrations are in full colour and the font large – both easy to follow and read for young readers.

This is the first in this new Graphic Novel series. Book 2 is coming soon.

Author / Illustrator – Book Ruffell

Graphic Novel

Age – 6+

(2023, Penguin Random House NZ, New Zealand, Pūkeko, Swamp Hen, Native Bird, Humour, Funny, Historical, 1445, 1642, Moa, Huia, Pouākai, Haast’s Eagle, series, Graphic Novel, Last of the Dinosaurs, Time Travel)