I love Fiji by Tarsi Vunidilo! Fiji, geared toward kids, introduces and gives a brief overview of the Fiji Islands. I love learning about the Fiji Islands and its culture. I believe Fiji by Tarsi Vunidilo is a great book for people that want to learn about Fiji. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read this book. My review is also on Goodreads.

Not anything like as good as it should be – this basic look at Fiji, in a series that allows us to tour the Pacific Island nations, starts off with some basics then jumps right into discussing shark's tooth mementoes and civic gifts. It then rounds 1250 BC up to being 3000 years ago – a bit rough on the maths, there. The rest can seem a bit too worthy, stodgy, and to my mind too old-school, thump-you-over-the-head-with-a-chalk-board-eraser kind of geography teacher. But it is not absolutely dreadful – it will educate, even if in ways I'd still question and over subjects I'd still doubt the need for. This might have been towards the lower of the star ratings, had I not seen others in the series, and realised that these are all written by natives, and from the viewpoint of what they would wish you to learn. So fair's fair – even if this goes off-curriculum, it can't be too bad to be taught about the islands from an Islander.

Fiji is one of 5 books in the Pacific Islands book series written for children. This book is best suited for children in late elementary and middle school. At the beginning of the book is a guide to Fijian Pronunciation and at the end of the book is a glossary divided into Fijian words and English words. There is also an index and a list of additional reading materials to learn more about Fiji.

The book is divided into four chapters: The History of Fiji, Island Traditions, Fiji's Culture, and Fiji Today. There are a lot of interesting facts shared in this book. One fact is that tabua (whale tooth) is used as a form of money. Another is that Europeans avoided Fiji for centuries due to the practice of cannibalism on the islands. There are colorful pictures to accompany the text, showing examples of Fiji culture, clothing, and celebrations.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #NorwoodHousePress for an eARC of #Fiji

Part of the ‘Voices from Around the World’ series, ‘Fiji’ is a nonfiction children’s book that explores Fiji’s history, geography, traditions and cultural practices.

I quite enjoyed this! The author provides a guide to Fijian pronunciation and introduces the reader to some greetings in the iTaukei language. I really enjoyed learning about the history of Fiji and it’s relationship with Britain. The book is filled with many facts and tells you about many important Fijians. I never knew about the close relationship of Fijian culture and Chinese culture, so that was cool to learn about!

I think I would have really loved to learn about Fiji when I was in school and I think many kids would enjoy this book. I appreciate that the author included a glossary at the end of the book and she also includes a ‘read more’ section of books and websites that I will definitely be looking into! I had never considered going to Fiji before as I’m not one for hot weather but I will be taking a look at the virtual museum online!

I really like the ‘About the Author’ section as well, she is an incredibly impressive person and I’d love to check out her other works. Thank you to NetGalley Norwood House Press for allowing me an eARC of this book. I look forward to reading the rest of the series!

TWs/CWs - Animal Death (mentioned); Cannibalism; Death; Deforestation; Disease; Slavery; War

Very informative and enchanting look at life in Fiji by Tarsi Vunidilo.
Watching umpteen seasons of Survivor on Fiji could never have taught me enough about the beautiful islands. I will watch with much more interest and depth of knowledge now though.
Beautiful images, geographic details, cultural background, historical information, pronunciation guides, and current events are all explored in this series.
This would make a great addition to any elementary library or classroom.
Thanks to NetGalley and Norwood Press for the early review copy!

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the eARC! I really like this series for children who are learning how to research a topic. These books are great since they have good information, the information is easy to find, and have great photographs. A great addition for classrooms, school libraries, and local libraries.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Norwood Press for my copy of Fiji by Tarsi Vunidilo in exchange for an honest review. It published August 15, 2022.
This book, and the related series is wonderful! As an adult, I felt like I was learning quite a lot, from origin stories, geographical location, culture, customs, foods, and more, this is an excellent resource for children and adults alike!
This would make an excellent addition to any library or classroom!