Lost in the Museum by Victoria Cleal. Illus. Isobel Joy Te Aho-White. Pub Te Papa Press, 2022.

This is a multi cultural picture book about the taonga or treasures of New Zealand stored within the Te Papa museum of New Zealand and open for all to see.

When papa goes missing in the Museum his whanau or family get worried. With the host they gather around a large pounamu (greenstone), touching it and thinking which taonga papa visited. The Stone contains iho or life force that can identify your hononga or connection with any of the taonga.

They try a number of taonga from many cultures that live in New Zealand including Maori , Pasifika, European and Chinese represented by an eel trap, the Britten motorcycle and a cheongsam or Chinese dress. Papa was not in any of them but he liked paintings and trees so guess where they find him?

Excellent illustrations by Joy Te Aho-White which enhance Victoria Cleal’s original multi cultural story. taking each person back in the past to the taonga’s source is a superb way to show our connection to our national treasures.

A great acquisition for any school library and for the home