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Our smallest penguins, korora or little penguins, are cute and mischievous.

Thanks to the efforts of staff at the National Aquarium of New Zealand, their characteristics and antics have become world famous.

Charged with protecting and rehabilitating korora, National Aquarium staff are also responsive to the public’s insatiable appetites for stories about them. Hence, they created their hotly contested ‘Penguin of the Year’ competition.

Now, the famous penguins of the National Aquarium are immortalised in Massey University Press’s book Kaewa the Korora. This engaging new picture book for young readers is written by educator and marine scientist Rachel Haydon, with pictures from award-winning illustrator Pippa Keel.

‘The korora crew that call the National Aquarium home all came to us in different ways, from injuries, starvation and abandonment, so the book was a chance to highlight some of their stories and what these wonderful birds face in the wild,’ says Rachel Haydon.

Join Kaewa the korora as she explores her strange new world at the National Aquarium. Taken under the flipper of Captain, a one-eyed korora who introduces her to the colourful characters of the penguin colony, she finds out about life in her new home – free food and fun friends! The penguins seem friendly, but who keeps knocking her over? There’s one korora she’s yet to meet, and when they collide . . . it ends in a splash!

This warm, feel-good mystery for young readers and their caregivers has a great cast of engaging characters, based on real penguins at the New Zealand’s National Aquarium. The book’s gorgeous illustrations are finely detailed to give a penguin’s-eye view of life at the cove.