A few summers ago I found an amazing obsidian stone at Whale Bay. It was one of a kind and had unusual markings, spurring time spent researching its possible origins. I found that while a fair amount of obsidian can be found in Northland, it’s mostly in the form of flakes or blades, fashioned rock traded from Tūhua (Mayor) Island in the Bay of Plenty. The island has plentiful supplies of stone which was broken off in slabs and traded. My stone however is a cobble, a rounded whole piece, measuring approximately 8 x 5 cm. It is more likely it was produced in a local volcanic eruption. After further research  I found two possible sources: Huruiki and the Bay of Islands. With Huruiki located a mere twenty kilometres or so up the coast, it made sense that this volcano was the source.

I kept thinking about the stone, it would randomly pop into my mind and I’d come up with a range of imaginative reasons as to how it came to be washed ashore at Whale Bay. Then I read more about the Moa Hunters, who carried obsidian cobbles as they were easily transportable, and made a fresh blade every time a moa was killed. As you can see in the photo above, if you apply your imagination, you can see where blades of stone have been chipped off. Of course my stone belonged to an ancient Moa Hunter. She was a young girl; the keeper of the stone. Naturally it then followed that a young girl found the same stone, hundreds of years later, washed ashore at Whale Bay. With this in mind, I sat down and wrote the first story in the series, Just End It, setting up for a series of equally unusual magical stones to be found by Em, in Just Remember, and Becky in Just Keep Going.

Further books are planned for the series, but each is written so it can be read and enjoyed as a standalone novel. The stories suit readers aged 9-12 years, weaving modern issues with elements of fantasy and magical realism.

Ask for these stories at the library or your favourite book store. Click on the photos for a description of each story.