Locals take kiwi story to world

Author Narine Groome and illustrator Caroline Della Porta with some of the original illustrations for the book being printed at Jeff Oliver Print. Dean Oliver is in the background. Photo / John Stone

The story of how a kiwi chick still in its egg survived being run over by a 13-tonne digger sounds like a tall tale, but it's a true tale being given new life by Whangarei children's author Narine Groome, with help from a local printing company.

The story could be a winner internationally, but sending a new book off into the world is pretty much old hat for Jeff Oliver Print these days. The company is gaining a reputation for printing books on its off-set press, and expanding that side of the printing business led to the purchase of a state-of-the-art book binder machine six months ago.

Dean Oliver, director of the company his late father Jeff started in 1986, said the binder is ideal for printing self-published novels, catalogues and annual reviews that require high binding strength and durability.

Skipping the technical language and details, he describes it as "an awesome machine" that enables the company to produce beautiful, professional, high-end, perfect bound books. It can do run lengths from as little as 30 copies, as thin as 1mm to 51mm thick, with finished book sizes from A6 to oversized A4.

As well as enabling the whole printing process to be done in-house, in Northland, the new process cuts down the company's carbon footprint by not having to freight finishing jobs of this nature to specialist print finishing factories, Mr Oliver said.

The latest book to roll off the press really began life on a remote East Cape farm when a kiwi egg was partially crushed by a digger a day or two before the chick was due to hatch.

The landowner found the chick beginning to break out of the damaged egg and set in motion a rescue chain involving a local kiwi trust, a kiwi hatching programme at Rainbow Springs in Rotorua and a four-hour road trip during which the plucky little bird continued to struggle free of its shell.

The kiwi survived (by a whisker) and has recently been returned to the wild near where he was found a year ago.

Ms Groome, who has written other children's books, was so taken with the kiwi-versus-digger news story she wrote Whisker the Kiwi Chick , a children's book in verse form.

It has been illustrated by Caroline Della Porta, a Picton-based artist who was introduced to Ms Groome by Fiona Cole, of publishing editing and facilitation company Bigwords-Books, currently based in Whangarei but soon to move to Dunedin.

On Monday the author, the artist and the editor got together at Jeff Oliver Print, where Ms Della Porta hand-delivered the original, colourful illustrations ready for printing.

Ms Cole said Jeff Oliver Print is excellent to work with.

"They specialise in this area. They listen, they advise, they're knowledgeable, nothing's a problem for them. This has been a seamless process."