The House that Jack Built

This is the dog
That worried the cat
That killed the rat
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.

“The House that Jack Built is a book with two strands. The main rhythmic text, based on the well-known rhyme, tells the story  of Jack Bull, who travels to New Zealand from London as a new settler in 1798.

“The detailed contemporary illustrations … tell the story from a Maori perspective—beginning with the myth of creation: Papatuanuku the earth mother, Ranginui the sky father and their children as guardians of the land. As the story goes on and Jack’s house grows, Papatuanuku is shown in the illustrations to weaken and fade.

“This story holds a poignant environmental as well as cultural  message and is a thought-provoking insight into the founding of  New Zealand by the Europeans.”
(from www.picturebooks.co.nz)