The Pipi Swing
By Sarona Aiono-Iosefa
Illustrated by Bruce Potter
Reed Publishing, Auckland 2007
ISBN 9781869484408
Grandparents can teach their grandchildren so many things, and in this story Sarona Aiono-Iosefa shares how the family tradition of collecting seafood is passed on.
A 12 year old girl known only as “Sweetpea” lives with her mother, a lawyer, and they are still coming to terms with the death of her father four years previously when he was killed by a drunk driver.
Sweetpea is invited “dancing” by her grandparents, but the strange thing is she is told to wear her board shorts with her swimming togs underneath, and when they arrive she sees her grandparents are also wearing their beach clothing. They drive to the beach, walk down to the shallow water, and she is told to do the “twist” – they bend their knees and wiggle their hips and feet. Then Sweetpea feels something hard under her feet, and discovers she has found some pipi shellfish.
Sweetpea and her grandparents have a fun half hour at the beach doing the Pipi Swing and collecting enough pipi for tea. But it is not only a time of dancing, it is the time she learns they used to bring her father to the beach to do the Pipi Swing when he was a boy, and they have found it hard to come back without him.
The death of a parent can be devastating for a child, but they don’t necessarily understand the impact on the adults in their family, or realise that person is someone else’s adult-child. This story shows how sharing with those you love can help everyone come to terms with the empty spaces in their lives.
For more information on this and Aiono-Iosefa’s book Two Cans Of Corned Beef And A Manulele In A Mango Tree: A Pacific Christmas go to
If you want to find out more about New Zealand shellfish, have a look at the Shellfish Identification Guide booklet at
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