> Skip to content
  • Published: 2 July 2024
  • ISBN: 9781776957361
  • Imprint: Picture Puffin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 32
  • RRP: $21.00

The Proud Pūteketeke

How an Underbird Became a Wonderbird



What happens when a pūteketeke egg turns up in a duck's nest? Find out in this entertaining picture book raising funds for Aotearoa New Zealand's Bird of the Century!

This funny and fabulously New Zealand-flavoured tale of a puking Ugly Duckling who is, in fact, a grebe includes facts about what makes the pūteketeke so special and precious, as well as the real-life tale of how it came back from the brink of extinction to find international fame as the Bird of the Century!

Every day Māmā Duck proudly counts her clutch of six eggs – ‘Tahi, rua, toru, whā, rimu, ono’. But one day, there’s a big surprise – ‘WHITU?’

Out of the seventh egg hatches a very strange little duckling, who has an extraordinary habit of puking up! The other ducklings think he's ridiculous. Will the little underbird find a friend who'll love him in spite of his quirks?

Bestselling comedian and author Peter Millett and the multi-talented Fifi Colson have teamed up to produce a funny and fabulous tale of a puking Ugly Ducking, inspired by the real-life story of how the Southern crested grebe (also known to southern Māori as kāmana) came back from the brink of extinction to find international fame as Aotearoa New Zealand's Bird of the Century.

Every copy sold raises funds to support pūteketeke conservation projects.

  • Published: 2 July 2024
  • ISBN: 9781776957361
  • Imprint: Picture Puffin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 32
  • RRP: $21.00

About the authors

Peter Millett

Peter Millett is a highly popular children's author. He has written across a number of children's genres and all of his work is stamped with his trademark energy and zany humour - qualities that always delight young audiences on his school visits.

He is the author of the Johnny Danger DIY Spy series (Penguin), Boy Zero series (Faber & Faber), The Invincibles series (Scholastic) and several picture books published in the UK, New Zealand, Australia, North America and Europe.

Peter's number one goal is to help make reading and writing a rewarding and fun-filled pastime for kids worldwide.

He lives in Auckland, New Zealand.

Fifi Colston

Fifi Colston is a straight-up creative with her fingers in many arty pies. She is an award-winning junior-fiction novelist and illustrator of more than 30 children’s books including the bestselling Pearl in a Whirl by Catherine Robertson, Marvellous Marvin by Nadia Lim and the Little Yellow Digger stories by Peter Gilderdale and the Storylines Notable Junior Fiction novel Masher. She is also a poet and a television presenter of arts and crafts — firstly on TVNZ’s ‘What Now’ and then ‘The Good Morning Show’. She has been creating World of Wearable Arts designs and has been a finalist and an award-winner many times over. She has also worked in the New Zealand TV and film industry as a costumier, puppet maker and illustrator and trainee scriptwriter. In between writing and creating, Fifi enjoys visiting schools and community groups, inspiring budding artists and writers through workshops in creative process.