Ghost Kiwi - Viv sits down with award-winning author and illustrator Ruth Paul to talk about her first junior fiction book. When her grandfather Rex is hospitalised, 11-year-old Ruby retreats to the forest with her trusty dog sidekick and a weird old doll she wants to get rid of. Near the treehouse built by Rex, she discovers a kiwi burrow. And is that a white kiwi chick she sees? Ruby and her friend Spider uncover a plot by the local vet to catch the white kiwi for an international smuggling ring. Together with a social misfit, who is both ex-convict and nature lover – and perhaps some mystical help from the local patupaiarehe – they manage to expose and catch the crooked vet. This well-crafted, compelling story weaves two cultures in anintriguing mystery adventure, spiced with Kiwi banter and humour. With trees that hold hands and friends that bridge cultures, the story takes us from deep inside a kiwi burrow to a town where families work together to protect a taonga of Tāne Mahuta – a precious white kiwi chick named Rākaunui, after the full moon. Ghost Kiwi features themes of family relationships, friendship, conservation, mental health and the supernatural.