I met my Samoan grandmother, Matalena, twice: once when I was at primary school and once when I was at high school. Both times it was pretty awkward. Even though I knew who she was, I didn’t know her. The second – and last – time I met Matalena, she’d developed cataracts and could hardly see. She wept as she ran her hands over my face – and to be honest, it freaked me out.

This pack contains a range of response activities complete with activity explainer videos for exploring thinking skills and developing emotional understandings and compassionate inquiry including:

• Blooms Higher Order Thinking activities
• Book Club guide for deepening text discussion
• A range of activities to explore emotional understanding, compassionate inquiry, empathy development, vocabulary and developing skills for self and co-regulation.

Themes explored include: ancestors, belonging, childhood, culture, family, grandparents, heritage, identity, migrants, Pālagi, Sāmoa, Samoan, tūpuna