Gumboots are perfect for splashing in puddles, keeping feet clean in mud, and walking in the rain. Gumboots are definitely for people’s feet, but one girl finds
her favourite footwear occupied by another.
Inside her beloved boot is a large, cranky wētā. It is so large in fact, her mum said it must an old wētā – A Koro Wētā.
The gumboot owner doesn’t care how old the insect is. She just wants her gumboots back. Her mum picks it up and puts it in the garden where it might be happier. But this wētā has other ideas. When the gumboots are needed again the next day, the Koro Wētā is back! Dad comes to the rescue this time.
The girl has an idea to keep her gumboots wētā free, to no avail. It likes the quiet and dark at the bottom of the boot. Together the family work on a plan to help the Koro Wētā and get the gumboot back.
By the author of the best selling Granny McFlitter Picture Book series, Koro Wētā is another great kiwi read. Many of us have either experienced a wētā camping out in our footwear, or dreaded it (I’m the latter), so this story will resonate with many.
This bilingual (English/Māori) shares the discovery of one such visitor who is determined to stay. Each time the insect is discovered there are cries of horror in both English and te reo, which repeat throughout the story. These will be fun to sound out in a kindy or class group, or even reading at home.
But during these cries are a building understanding of the amazing wētā, and why it is hiding in the boot. Along the way any fear of the wētā is lost and a solution to both the wētā and character’s problems, found.
I loved the simple use of technology during the story and the illustration depicting it.
The ending is a treat!
What’s so wonderful about wētā? – Find out at the back of the book with a whole page of fascinating facts about this creature, only found in New Zealand!
Author – Heather Haylock
Illustrator – Sarah Trolle
Publisher – Oratia Media
Picture Book
(2025, Oratia Media, NZ, New Zealand, Aotearoa, Native Insect, Gumboots, Habitat, Bilingual)