Strum a Tune when you’re Happy: Kei Te Pai – Read NZ Te Pou Muramura

When Pūkeko, Kiwi and Hoiho want to show how they feel, they get their musical instruments out to express how emotions are real.

Reviewed by Kimberley Nielsen, Kamo Primary School, Northland

‘Strum a tune when you’re happy: kei te pai’ is the fourth book by author/illustrator Rebecca Larsen. It begins with a spoken verse to set the scene, then follows the tune ‘if you’re happy and you know it’. Each verse talks about an emotion, a musical instrument that represents that emotion, and an action you can do to express or work through the emotion.

Illustrations show native birds and animals playing the relevant instruments for that verse and performing the actions mentioned. A different colour is assigned to each emotion via the illustrations, but these colours are not mentioned in the song.

Each page contains text in both te reo Māori (top of the page), and English (bottom of the page), and the accompanying CD has 3 versions of the song – English, te reo Māori, and musical accompaniment only. There is also a QR code provided for those who prefer to listen online.