The Guardian of the Land

by Joanna Orwin

Guardian of the Land was first published in 1985 by Oxford, winning the 1986 Children's Book of the Year and is an exciting time travel adventure which also has valuable historical and ecological lessons. It has been selected as the fourth title in the Collins Modern New Zealand Classic series. twelve-year-old David has been ill and is staying with relatives in Kaikoura, where he meets Rua, and his ancient grandmother. She's a powerful kuia, determined to recover the guardian of the land, a long-lost carved whalebone taonga, for her people before she dies. On a visit to a seal colony the boys are caught up in a strange dream, as without knowing it they have become the tools Nanny Henare will use across time to fulfill her quest. the boys cross backwards and forwards in time, tracing the path of the bone carving from pre-European times to the musket wars and the sealing and whaling era of colonisation before they are finally able to solve the puzzle of the taonga's whereabouts in their own time, and restore it to its people.

Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Joanna Orwin is a writer of fiction and non-fiction for adults and children. Many of her books have been shortlisted for or have won awards, including Children's Book of the Year in 1985 and the Senior Fiction category of the New Zealand Post Book awards for Children and Young Adults in 2002. She lives in Christchurch, New Zealand. You can find out more about her on her website at https://www.joannaorwin.com.

Reviews

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely adored this book as a child. It brought to life historic scenes of Aotearoa in the way that dry school lessons never could, creating a vibrant and terrifying and deeply spiritual world that one can’t help to feel personally connected to. It is a book that has stayed with me for many years, and I always hoped to find a copy - which I was lucky enough to do so recently in a second-hand book store.
A little ham-fisted in its treatment of Māori in a social context for this day and age - David’s mother’s suspicion of Māori people, use of English plural (“Maoris”), and non-use of macrons - but progressive for the time in which it was written, I guess?
Anyway, this is still a fantastic novel that I would highly recommend to all kiwi youngsters, and I loved it every bit as much as I did 20 years ago.

[Rachel (Sfogs) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A kiwi classic!

[Waddels · Rating 2 out of 5]

I looked at the back of the book.
"Oh! Time travel! This must be like Steins Gate!"

It was not like Steins Gate.