Once there was a kuia who made mats and baskets. In the corner of her kitchen lived a spider who made webs. Since its publication in 1981, Patricia Grace and Robyn Kahukiwa's The Kuia and the Spider has become a New Zealand classic.

 

There are 32 pages in this book. This is a picture book. A picture book uses pictures and text to tell the story. The number of words varies from zero ('wordless') to around 1k over 32 pages. Picture books are typically aimed at young readers (age 3-6) but can also be aimed at older children (7+). This book was published 1982 by Penguin Group (NZ) .

Patricia Grace is one of New Zealand's most celebrated writers. She has published six novels and seven short story collections, as well as a number of books for children and non-fiction. She won the New Zealand Fiction Award for Potiki in 1987, and was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2001 with Dogside Story, which also won the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Fiction Prize. Her children's story The Kuia and the Spider won Children's Picture Book of the Year. Patricia was born in Wellington and lives in Plimmerton on ancestral land, in close proximity to her home marae at Hongoeka Bay. Previous novels by Patricia Grace- Mutuwhenua- The Moon Sleeps, Potiki, Cousins, Baby No-eyes, Dogside Story, Tu. Short story collections- Waiariki, The Dream Sleepers and Other Stories, Electric City and Other Stories, Selected Stories, Collected Stories, The Sky People, Small Holes in the Silence. Books for children- The Kuia and the Spider/Te Kuia me te Pungawerewere, Watercress Tuna and the Children of Champion Street/Te Tuna Watakirihi me Nga Tamariki o te Tiriti o Toa, The Trolley, Areta and the Kahawai, Maraea and the Albatrosses. Non-fiction- Wahine Toa, Ned & Katina- a True Love Story.