Amorangi and Millie’s Trip Through Time by Lauren Keenan
About Lauren Keenan
Lauren Keenan (Te Ati Awa ki Taranaki) is a writer of creative non-fiction, novels, short stories and popular psychology. Lauren was a winner at the 2017 Pikihuia Awards for Maori writers and a finalist in the 2019 awards. She was also a participant in Te Papa Tupu mentoring programme. Her short stories have appeared in Huia Short Stories collections in 2015, 2017 and 2019, and in 2020 her book The 52 Week Project was published. Lauren has a Master of Arts in History. For further information, visit:
A Quote from Lauren Keenan
“I am delighted to be in the longlist for this important award. In my iwi (tribe) we have a saying: haere whakamua, hoki whakamuri. We go forward, but we look back. This was the overarching theme of Amorangi and Millie’s Trip Through Time and something I consider very important: moving forward as a people, but still looking back at our history to enable us to learn and grow. And the great thing about kids’ books set in the past is how they can bring history alive for the next generation.”
About Amorangi and Millie’s Trip Through Time
Amorangi and Millie lost their mum. Their only clue to her whereabouts is a carving on a tree that says I’m in the past! Rescue me! To do this, Amorangi and Millie must travel up every branch of their family tree and collect an object from each ancestor they meet.
They must then be back in the modern day before the sun sets, or they’ll all be trapped forever in the past. But can they do it in time?
In their travels, the children experience aspects of events in New Zealand history, such as the invasion of Parihaka, the Great Depression, World War Two, the Musket Wars and the eruption of Mount Taranaki. They also experience changes in the town and landscape, the attitudes of people and the way people live their lives.
