Kimi the Kekeno's Big Adventure | Shelley Burne-Field

A funny and exciting ocean adventure with heaps of heart, this is emerging talent Shelley Burne-Field's second middle grade novel for young readers. Kimi the kekeno is going on the biggest adventure of his life - the long and scary journey to the magical Stone Circle. Along the way Kimi and his friends meet a giant squid who needs their help, a wise old stingray and a very hungry hammerhead shark. Does shy and gentle Kimi have what it takes to make the journey? Can the friends still make it to the Stone Circle moon ceremony on time? From the author of Brave Kāhu and the Pōrangi Magpie, this is a story about friendship, learning to be brave and loving ourselves as we are.

Shelley Burne-Field (Sāmoa, Ngati Mutunga, Ngati Rārua, Pākehā) is a kaituhituhi from Te Matau-a-Māui Hawke's Bay. She writes articles and creative non-fiction as well as fiction of all sorts, including short stories. This is her second children's story. It follows the epic middle-grade adventure story, Brave Kāhu and the Pōrangi Magpie, published in 2024. She is an alumni of the Master of Creative Writing from Auckland University 2020 and also Te Papa Tupu mentoring programme. Her story 'Speaking in Tongues' was the only New Zealand Finalist in the 2022 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Her work is now in print in anthologies around the world, and has appeared in Newsroom and on RNZ. Her story 'Pinching out Dahlias' is the most read short story published in Reading Room. Shelley is a proud member of the NZSA.