A Gift for Ana

A heart-warming story about discovering new places, foods and faces . . .about finding your family’s roots and planting your own.

“That first night in Samoa, Ana slept next to her grandmother on an old bed with sheets that smelled of mothballs. Now it was morning and as she opened her eyes, Ana saw that the other side of the bed was empty. She sat up and looked across the room.

Mum and Dad were still fast asleep on their mattress on the floor. She pulled the mosquito net which covered the bed aside, tiptoed past her parents and went outside.”

Also available in the Samoan language translation O le Meaālofa mo Ana.

• Jane Va'afusuaga, Author

  Jane Va’afusuaga was born and raised in Eastbourne, Wellington, New Zealand and is of Scottish heritage. Having trained as a teacher, she taught for 10 years in Auckland and four years in Apia, Samoa. Va’afusuaga lives in Samoa in the village of Falease’ela, with her husband, Olsen and daughter, Coco.
  
  Their house sits beside the Liua le Vai o Sina River, where they host visitors from around the world through their ecocultural adventure tourism business. Life in the village means Jane has been immersed in the culture, language, natural environment, church and customs of the Samoan people. She works in the family business, writes when she can and volunteers at the local primary school where she has set up a library.
  
  Va’afusuaga is a 2017 New Zealand Society of Authors mentorship recipient.
  
  “My passion is to write stories and articles that children, especially Pacific Island children can respond to. To give them characters and situations they can relate to and stories they can see themselves in, ultimately to inspire children to read.”

• Azra Pinder-Pancho, Illustrator

  Azra Pinder-Pancho is an Auckland, New Zealand based illustrator who has worked as a visual artist in the Philippines and New Zealand. Well known in the Phillipines as one half of the Philippines Twins, Pinder-Pancho and her identical sister Sam inherited their creative skills from their artist parents.
  
  This is Pinder-Pancho’s first entry into children’s picture books.