The Picture Book Buzz - Interview w/Katie Furze and Review of Pekapeka, Secret Forest Bat

Maria Marshall
Jul 2
8 min read

Katie Furze is an author of children's stories and books from Aotearoa New Zealand, who has a master’s degree in creative writing and a love of science and nature.

Photo of author Katie Furze in a red flowered top with green bushes and trees behind her.

Her books include Ruru, Night Hunter (2024) and Tuatara, a Living Treasure (2023), both illustrated by Ned Barraud and published by Scholastic NZ.

Covers of Katie's two picture books. On the left, RURU, Night Hunter with the eyes and beak of an owl and the sliver of a crescent moon in the left corner. On the right TUATARA, A Living Treasure with the head and upper body of a lizard.

Tuatara, a Living Treasure was a finalist in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults in 2024 and a regional finalist in the 2024 SCBWI Crystal Kite Awards and Ruru, Night Hunter is a finalist in the 2025 NZCYA Awards which take place in August of this year.

Her newest book, Pekapeka, Secret Forest Bat, with illustrator Ned Barraud and Scholastic NZ releases on July 1st.

Welcome Katie,

Tell us a little about yourself. (Where/when do you write? How long have you been writing? What is your favorite book to write?)

My writing journey began twelve years ago when I had a little time on my hands. My older children were at school and my youngest was at morning kindergarten – it was the perfect opportunity to reinvent myself. I’ve always loved children’s books, especially ones that stimulate the imagination, so I started to write, and I haven’t looked back!

Even if it is just a sentence or two jotted in my journal, I write every day, wherever I am. I like to process my thoughts, ideas and first drafts the old-fashioned way with a pen on paper. I write nonfiction and fiction for children of all ages including picture books, short stories, articles, novels, poems, plays, and early readers. Sometimes I write for grown-ups, too.

More recently I’ve focused on nonfiction which I absolutely love because of the research and the constraint of sticking to the facts.

It's nice to "meet" you! What is one of the most fun or unusual places where you’ve written a manuscript?

When my children were young, I wrote in short bursts whenever I had the opportunity. This meant most of my early manuscripts were written at swimming lessons, football practices, and dance lessons. Oddly, it seemed the more background noise the better! These days I have the luxury of being able to write at home on the dining table, where I can spread out all my notebooks and research papers – this is especially helpful when writing STEAM books.

Yeah, stretching our the research in car or at lesson can be a problem. What was your inspiration or spark of interest for Pekapeka, Secret Forest Bat?

Book cover of Pekapeka, Secret Forest Bat with a big-eared forest bat soaring above dark clouds, in front of a bright full moon.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, where I live, pekapeka or bats are the only native land mammals. (Pekapeka is the Māori name for bats). We have two types of pekapeka that are vastly different from each other.

I chose to focus on the New Zealand lesser short-tailed bat which is the only living species in the family Mystacinidae. These bats have unique adaptations – for example, they spend much of their time scurrying around on the ground with their wings folded up. They are endangered and rarely seen by people because they are only found in a few locations, deep in ancient forests.

I wanted to write a book that would give children (and adults) insight into the life of these elusive and fascinating creatures and at the same time help pekapeka by raising knowledge and highlighting the importance of scientific research and conservation.

It is so cool to learn about these unusual and unique bats! What was the hardest or most challenging thing about writing Pekapeka, Secret Forest Bat? And what was the most fun?

The hardest part with this manuscript was getting the structure right. I had a feeling something was ‘off’ with my story and when I made my picture book dummy (an essential part of my process) I realized I needed to cut a scene. The story is stronger for it – often less is more.

The most fun part was visiting the beautiful ancient forests where pekapeka are found such as Whirinaki Te Puā-a-Tāne Conservation Park, in the central north island of New Zealand.

I hope you got to see the bats in this forest. Having written three nonfiction picture books, what is your research process? Did it change at all for Pekapeka, Secret Forest Bat?

My research process is similar for each book. First, I search for every piece of information I can find about the topic including books, scientific papers, articles, podcasts, interviews, videos, and websites. Then I read, watch, or listen to all of these. Some sources are more accurate and more useful than others and it is important to check every fact that makes it into the final book. Once I have a completed manuscript, I contact experts to ask specific questions and to check the accuracy of what I have written.

When researching Pekapeka, Secret Forest Bat, I was able to read about all aspects of the bat’s biology and behavior from reports and scientific papers, thanks to the excellent work of scientists. Once I had finished my manuscript, I contacted a bat expert, to make sure I had everything right.

Thanks for this great look at STEM research and the need for fact checking.

Not too bad. When you first saw Ned Barraud’s illustrations did anything surprise, amaze, or delight you? Which is your favorite spread?

The dynamic nature of the illustrations in Pekapeka, Secret Forest Bat surprised and delighted me. There is so much movement – it’s very exciting! I also love the way he’s depicted Pekapeka as cute but also a little creepy.

Internal spread - on the left, a native New Zealand owl perches in a palm, right yellow eye watching. On the right, a white swirling line path shows the little bat's hunt for moths in the starry sky above a cloudy landscape with just the tops of a few trees visible and a rising full moon.

Text © Katie Furze, 2025. Image © Ned Barraud, 2025.

It is difficult for me to pick a favorite spread, but I am particularly fond of this one that shows pekapeka catching moths while our native owl, ruru, watches.

This is such a stunning and eerie illustration. As the third book that has been illustrated by Ned Barraud, how much, if any, interaction did you have with him in creating Pekapeka, Secret Forest Bat?

Ned and I chat on a regular basis, but I take a step back and leave the publishing team to interact with him about creating the illustrations, as it is not my area of expertise.

Scholastic shares the illustration roughs and the near-final layouts for my comments – which is wonderful.

You make an excellent team. I love your STEM picture books. How many revisions did Pekapeka, Secret Forest Bat take from first draft to publication?

I worked on 10 revisions on my own, and then a few with my editor.

That's not too bad, What's something you want your readers to know or learn about Pekapeka, Secret Forest Bat?

Like a lot of wildlife in Aotearoa New Zealand, these bats are very different to species found elsewhere in the world. For instance, New Zealand short-tailed bats spend most of their time scurrying around on the ground, the males serenade females from special ‘singing’ roosts, and they have the largest communal roosts of all tree-roosting bats, with hundreds to thousands of bats in one tree.

I think that's one of the coolest things about New Zealand. The amazing diversity and uniqueness of the animals. Are there any new projects you are working on now that you can share a tidbit with us?

I am extremely excited to share that Ned Barraud and I are working on our next book about another very special native animal of Aotearoa New Zealand with Scholastic NZ. Look out for it in 2026!

Intriguing, we will have to keep our eyes open for it. Last question, what is your favorite National Park or Forest, regional park, or city park (anywhere in the world)? Or the one you’re longing to visit. Why?

Photo of the winding fiord and river in Fiordland National Park in New Zealand.

My favorite wild place is Fiordland National Park in the South Island of New Zealand. The scenery and wildlife are stunning – and guess what? Pekapeka live there!

Thank you, Katie, for sharing with us a bit about yourself and your new book.

To find out more about Katie Furze, or to contact her:

Website: https://www.katiefurze.com/

Facebook: Katie Furze - Author

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katiefurzeauthor/

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/katiefurze.bsky.social

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KatieFurze

Review of Pekapeka, Secret Forest Bat

Home to many unusual animals, New Zealand has a small, brown bat which actually walks on the forest floor as it hunts insects and is the sole pollinator of two rare plants. This entertaining and engaging nonfiction introduces readers to this fascinatingly secretive mammal.

Pekapeka, Secret Forest Bat

Author: Katie Furze

Illustrator: Ned Barraud

Publisher: Scholastic New Zealand (July 1, 2025)

Ages: 3-7

Nonfiction

Themes:

Forest Bats, New Zealand, and conservation.

Synopsis:

When velvety dark descends, the whole colony wakes and the hollow comes alive with twitching and chittering.

Bats are Aotearoa New Zealand's only native land mammals. This book is set in an ancient forest, and follows Pekapeka, a short-tailed bat, on her nocturnal adventures as she forages for food, evades predators, and plays a crucial role in pollinating native plants, all while navigating the many dangers hidden in the night.

Opening lines:

Deep in an ancient forest,

inside a giant hollow tree,

Pekapeka rests, upside down.

Nestled amongst hundreds of others,

she is snuggly warm

and hidden from prying eyes

Sidebar: Short-tailed pekapeka are not often seen by people because

they live deep in ancient native forest and they are nocturnal.

What I LOVED about this book:

As a nonfiction STEM book focused on secretive bats who live in remote forests in New Zealand, whose main activity happens at night, I am impressed with Ned Barraud's use of moonlight, shading, and white space to bring these fascinating creatures to life for the reader. Combined with the succinct text, written from one bat's point of view (without anthropomorphizing it), this book offers the reader a secret 'window' into the lives of these special bats. It's really fun that our first look at the bats is "through" the tree's opening, as the moonlight streams in.

Internal spread- on the left, in a circle spot image, a tall tree stands out against a dark forest, rising into a moonlit sky. On the right, moonlight peeks into the tree cavity and spotlights a bunch of bats huddled together upside down, sleeping.

Using a combination of deep, velvety dark, starry, moonlit illustrations - such as when Pekapeka emerges from her tree roost to set off on a search for food . . .

Internal spread - on the left, a small brown bat crouches at the entrance of her tree roost, with a full moon and starry sky to her left. On the right, the bat flies through the night sky above dark tree silhouettes using her sonar.

and illustrations using more white space (perhaps in the moon's beam) which help highlight the bat's foraging actions, Ned Barraud gives us an intimate and realistic look of an evening's hunting adventure of this bat. And I totally agree with Katie, Pekapeka is both very cute and just a bit creepy!

Internal spread - on the left, under a white mushroom, a small bat crawls on the ground digging for prey. In the center, she snags a crunchy, stripped beetle. On the right, her head pokes out from leaves with a white grub caught between tiny, sharp teeth.

Wonderful onomatopoeia in a fun refrain - "ZIP, ZAP, ZOOM!" and numerous sounds, along with lovely lyrical text, she " gently licks the nectar with her long tongue," follow Pekapeka as she forges for insects, indulges in nectar (helping pollinate rare plants), chases moths, and evades a rat and a stoat. Fascinating sidebars explore additional facts about the bats, their New Zealand environment, and some of the threats they face.

This is a wonderfully active and interesting adventure with a New Zealand forest bat that spans from dusk to dawn. Back matter offers additional information on the history and importance of these short-tailed bats, as well as fun facts, a website "about animals and plants in Aotearoa" and adult resources. It's an entertaining nonfiction book on a unique little bat that kids will enjoy reading again and again, which will hopefully spur increased interest in saving these, and other, special bats.

Resources:

make an origami bat (here) and (here ), bat marionette, or Lego bats.
create your own bat silhouette painting with spray paint, sponges, or coffee filters.

make a list, chart, or graph of how pekapeka bats are different from bats that live near you.
pair this with Bats Beneath the Bridge by Janet Nolan, illustrated by Emily Cox, The Secret Life of the Little Brown Bat by Laurence Pringle, illustrated by Kate Garchinsky, Bat's Moonlight Feast by Gordon McMillan, illustrated by Carly Allen-Fletcher.