June Pitman-Hayes is a creative writer, singer-songwriter/lyricist and published poet. Of Ngāti Pūkenga, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Wai, and Ngāti Maniapoto descent, June is a well-known jazz singer, having throughout the country. June is the musical voice to Joy Cowley’s Hush: A Kiwi Lullaby and is the author/musician of a number of Scholastic NZ titles. June talk to NZ Booklovers.
What inspired you to write this book?
I’ve always felt very connected to te taiao (nature) to trees, plants, rocks, every living thing, and very aware of the impact felling of our world’s native tree species over eons of time has our very existence as human beings on this planet.
As a child growing up ‘free range’ wandering through the ngahere I never ever felt alone among the native bush and its trees. I took notice of their bark, berries, gum, leaves, sounds, touch - so a very sensory experience, and one that I would try to impart on my grandchildren when they were young. No sooner had my family held a planting ceremony of my great-grandson’s whenua into the whenua of our ancestors here in Whangarei, when a call came through from Scholastic (one of those synchronistic moments when it seems as if Scholastic and I were on the same wavelength at the same time) asking if I’d consider writing a book focused on generations of family. Very weird in a good way. I’d promised my grandson Jamie, who loved to ride the branchy horses of an old Pōhutukawa overhanging the beach, that I’d write a book for him, and in a roundabout way, this was it!
What research was involved?
Prior to Scholastic’s call, I’d been reading various books on trees for quite a few years, including The Secret Life of Trees. Each of them opened up wide avenues of awareness; the fact that trees like to grow in family groups, that they have this unique communication system that allows them to support each other in incredible ways such as sending healing support to each other in times of stress. I don’t know if it was so much about research, but rather delving into lived memories or my child self, bringing those memories to the surface while observing life going on in areas where trees grow in present time.
What was your routine or process when writing this book? And how did you work with the illustrator Minky Stapleton?
Because this book is written to be sung, I have to think like both writer and musician. What words will be rhymable and singable? How will I string them together so it’s not difficult for them to be sung or voiced? I’d write a section or scene, then put it aside to allow for other scenes to emerge, then creative a chorus or a section that would connect them to each other. For this I really wanted to get children thinking about the similarities of a human to a tree in a fun way, hence ‘ Stand up tall, spread your arms out wide, sway your body from side to side’. What a fun way to get the family dancing around for no other reason then for some good family fun. Minky always comes up with great illustration ideas for my books, and this was another one of those times when she just got it. As each rough came through and then was developed further, other details appeared, those magical things that make you want to look deeper into the pictures.
What did you enjoy the most about writing this children’s book?
I enjoyed the way the educational qualities emerged in such a fun way, and the way Minky gives them expression and movement.
What did you do to celebrate finishing this book?
I held two book launches, one in Auckland, and another in Whangārei which drew large audiences who went home with copies of the book under their arms.
What is the favourite book you have read so far this year and why?
The Hanging Sky by Shirley Corlett. Set in the time of the Moa Hunters to the present day, it takes you on an intergenerational journey of family from those times to the present day. Its intriguing, brutal, spiritual, and felt very real to me.
What’s next on the agenda for you?
I’m about to embark on a cultural historical research/writing project focused particularly on a significant waterway up here in the North, that had a vital part to play in supporting pre-European Māori ways of life, forging relationships between Māori and early settler arrivals, and enabled early trade and industry to establish.
Scholastic NZ
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