Phantom of Terawhiti

by Des Hunt

It's the school holidays and Zac thinks he might go crazy with boredom. He's living in exile with his disgraced father on the remote Terawhiti Station on Wellington's wild southwest coast. Then Zac and his dad witness a boat sink during a storm. Investigating further, Zac finds a set of unusual animal prints on the beach. Whose boat is it? And what creature could have made the prints? Soon armed men are prowling the coast, and threatening Zac, his friends and his family. He must do all he can to protect the Phantom of Terawhiti from those intent on hunting it down.

Genres: Childrens

256 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2013

About the author

Des Hunt was a science and technology teacher for many years, interspersed with periods of curriculum development both in New Zealand and overseas. During this time he had several textbooks published to support the New Zealand curriculum. In recent years he has looked at other ways of interesting youngsters in science, creating computer games and writing non-fiction and fiction with scientific themes.

After living in Auckland for much of his life he moved with his wife, Lynne, to Matarangi on New Zealand’s Coromandel Peninsula. He retired from the classroom in 2007 to concentrate on writing fiction for children. He continues his aims of fostering young peoples’ natural interest in the science of their surroundings by visiting schools and libraries where he runs workshops and presentations.

Reviews

[Miss Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Living off the beaten track whilst his dad researches and writes a book results in new friendships for Zac. Ever observant, Zac finds an interesting item amongst the debris from a marine wreck. With fairly astute tracking skills he locates and protects what he finds whilst doing his best to avoid unwarranted attention.
Deals with karma, protective instincts, consequences, criminal opportunists, media interest, riding on the coattails of someone else's fame, and 'every good turn deserves another'.

[Houlahan houlahan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good YA novel.

I really liked the description of the barren coastline around Wellington. Good for 8/9/10 year levels.

[Kate Gardner · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s an awesome book. Instantly fell in love with the sound of Tasha and Alex!! Jess and Zac are so cool. Now find myself wishing I had an albino Serval as a pet!🐯

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't as into this one as I have been with the others. I was distracted by other books, but this one was enjoyable.

[Rebecca]

This is the second book by Des Hunt that I have read and I feel like I was even more impressed with this one. I sat down to start it and basically ended up polishing the book off the same day. It was a really entertaining read and I had a lot of fun reading through it.

I found the story line to be really good. It has a mysterious element to it which I really loved and I just thought it was so engrossing.

The characters were really believable and I really liked Zac. I did find Jess’ actions to be a little annoying though, I really want to tell her to just listen to Zac and then things wouldn’t have gone as far as they did. I did think she did redeem herself a little bit in the end though.

The writing is simplistic and straightforward which is to be expected as it’s written for a younger YA audience and I feel as though it just made the book flow on smoothly and made it really easy to just fly through the pages.

Overall, I thought that Phantom of Terawhiti was a really good read and I am definitely keen on reading more by Des Hunt.

[Ben Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Title: Phantom of Terawhiti
Author: Des Hunt
Date: 27 May 2014
Text Type: Novel

Q1: Who is my favourite character and why?

My favourite character is Tasha because she was brave and smart. When the boat sunk she managed to make it to shore alive, She never was mean to Jess and Zac only to people who were trying to hurt her, she looked after Alex well. She defended herself and attacked the bad Russian brothers. Tasha travelled very far while carrying Alex and she was very badly injured all the way to the zoo. That's why Tasha is my favourite character in this novel.

Q2: What was the most exciting part and why?

The most exciting part in this novel was when Zac and Jess first meet Alex, Tasha’s cub. Zac and Jess were so surprised that Tasha had a baby that they jumped with joy, they visited the cub everyday but then Tasha goes missing with Alex. They travelled very far and Zac and Jess were very scared and nervous and didn’t want anything to happen to Tasha and Alex and that’s what i think was the most exciting part in the novel.

[Lemurkat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am quite a fan of Des Hunt, and have read all of his books to date. This is the latest, and it is set in the wilder parts of Wellington. Throughout the book, Hunt subtly educates you about New Zealand history (ie: Wahine disaster) and conservation whilst also engaging the reader in a well paced adventure story. This story does not move at such a frantic, heart-racing pace as some of his other books, and the climax is more emotionally tense rather than filled with action, but it is a highly enjoyable read. Recommended for boys aged 10+ that like a good, real life adventure story. This one is also suited to girls, and actually has a female protagonist in it too - although she behaves in a manner that is somewhat selfish in parts of the book.

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this to see if I would like to read it aloud to my class. When I look for a read aloud I look for something that is thought provoking and bigger than what's on paper. In that aspect this book failed. It had too much dialogue and the multitude of place names bored me ( although I live in NZ and know where all those places are). There is so much brilliant middle school aged literature out there. Sadly this wasn't one of them. For a book that kids might silent read, well it's up to them, but I won't be reading this one to them.

[Aroha Kohu-Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Really enjoyed this book and personally I really enjoyed the little bit of romance in it and I couldn't peel myself away from the book. If you can't stop reading then you can tell its a good book. my favorite character is jess because she's very affectionate and simple in a good way and shows zac things in a new light. rate 10/10 thumbs up!!!!!!

[Xavier scheffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a awesome book there is a leaped called tasha and she has a baby and it is she is wantend and it is all over. The internet zac and he saw a boat that crashed into rock and he found a boul in the. Crash that had a name read the book to find out