Off You Go, Auntie Ma - Sharon Holt and (illustrator) Jennifer Lautusi

Published for the Ministry of Education by Learning Media Limited: Wellington, New Zealand, 2004.

This book is part of a series released by the New Zealand Ministry of Education to help children understanding and process various emotions. We have a few of them in our collection, including Lost at the Show, Whooping in the Waves, and this one.

Off You Go, Auntie Ma tells the story of a young girl, Huriana, who is beginning to spend time at a preschool, but doesn't want her caregiver, Auntie Ma, to leave her there. We follow Huriana over the course of a week, with Auntie Ma finding ways to help her process the separation anxiety, and slowly get used to the idea that the preschool is fun, and that Auntie Ma isn't abandoning her.

It is a sweet story, with a strong New Zealand flavour, and explains a concept that will inevitably be helpful for Ezekiel to understand at some point in the next year, when he begins to have some mornings at a similar location.

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