Kia ora Ana & Frog!

Kia Ora Ana & Frog - nice to meet you! Lots of love, your author, Shelley

All stories have aspects of their authors built in. It’s a thing. An author bundles up pieces of themselves as well as everyone they’ve ever met, experiences they’ve had, then adds a big dash of imagination, and finally creates a story that hopefully readers love.

This story was a little different. Ana & Frog decided they wanted their voices and story told right from the start. Okay with you, author Shelley Burne-Field?

It was very cool. Ana & Frog soon broke into my author's brain and took over the book (as well as this article). Very, very cool. When the characters in your story transform themselves into their very own lively voices, the author can step back and hopefully let some magic happen!

Ana & Frog are unique characters. I love them. They started out as a blend of tamariki I’ve known over the years. Nieces, nephews, school kids, cousins, neighbourhood kids, and lots of country kids.

Quite soon, Ana & Frog had their own personalities and quirks that came flying off the page. They grew their own motivations, and their own emotions and thoughts.

Also, when illustrator Story Hemi-Morehouse brought them to life with such amazing drawings, Ana & Frog could not be held back. They were in the house!

I’m very grateful to the writing gods - or as Frog says - thank you to the ‘atua Buddha of lipgloss’ for revealing such wonderful best friend cousins and the story of Minty the missing horse.

Ana is the main protagonist and an absolute good person. She gets a bit lonely on her dad’s farm, and she loves her cousin more than anything. Frog stays at the farm and their fav snack is caramel popcorn. Ana & Frog are pretty inseparable. And they make the best detectives.

As Matua Witi Ihimaera said after he read Ana & Frog: ‘Our very own young detectives.Their adventures are mīharo!’

Ana loves horses, especially Minty, Whaea McCready’s horse. Her story started with a grain of an idea from my own childhood.

Minty the horse is not quite the grey mare I knew when I was about 6 or 7. Even though the grey horse that lived in the paddock down the road disappeared one day, I never ever found out where it went. But the horse did reappear one day a few weeks later - phew!

This is where a story can take real life events and turn them upside down and inside out. Minty is her own ‘character’ too! She has had a special relationship with Ana from the toddler years. They are very close and Ana loves her even more than hip-hop.

Frog is a particularly insistent voice in the story too. Perhaps this is because she has a photographic memory and she has read this book from cover to cover. Of course, Frog has also written a five page review of the book, because she is a grade A nerd. Don’t worry, she is completely comfortable with being a nerd. In fact, she loves it. Geekiness is in, didn’t you know?

They both love school and their teacher, Whaea Diamond. Two frenemies, Ellie and Lu, are the only thing about school they don’t like. I thought it was important to show that having friendships can be awesome, but also challenging sometimes. I wanted Ana & Frog to realise that friendships can be saved. That misunderstandings are a part of life, and can be solved if everyone is willing. Let’s hope everyone is willing!

This story is set in ‘Waitapu’, a fictional town that I borrowed from my fellow writer - Helen Waaka - who used the town Waitapu in her book of short stories. Thanks Helen!

For Ana & Frog, Waitapu is a little slow. Not much happens there. It is a ‘triple ‘B’ - beautiful but boring’ place, but such a place makes my heart sing. These little country towns have little country streets and little country shops. Waitapu is located by a river with stopbanks that stop the town from flooding. Big country markets are held displaying tractors and food-trucks. What a place for Ana & Frog to solve a mystery where the stakes couldn’t be higher - finding their friendly hōiho, Minty.

I really enjoyed that Ana & Frog don’t give up, and they even challenge the status quo and authority figures while having the utmost respect. This is one of the neatest things I found about the story as it unfolded. Ana & Frog could trust people in their little town.

Ana’s dad (and Uncle Charlie to Frog) is an amazing and caring father, while Frog’s mum (Aunty Lena to Ana) is a professional but also umpires netball and cheers everyone on. Other trustworthy characters became so important to Ana & Frog’s rescue mission: Whaea McCready, who is Minty’s owner, believed Ana & Frog from the start. And Sergeant Mikaere Maaka was there as well. Cousins Wiremu and Rocco showed their clown antics as so many young boys do, but they also showed their sensitive sides and how supportive a whānau can be.

Even tall business woman Tracey Montague is not simply IN Shelley Burne-Field’s story - no - each character just like her has found a life of their own. I think the story is a peek into my dream childhood, where made up characters can come to life. Ana & Frog are so different, but each have the other’s back.

They’re like every kid I know - all with different likes and dislikes. Ana dances while Frog wants to be an usher. Ana likes dogs and horses while Frog likes organising. At kura, they’re helpful as well as curious. Both girls are determined to follow the clues and rescue their friend.

As a writer who managed to find the words to capture their world, I’m totally here for it, and so are Ana & Frog. I hope you enjoy the story as much as we have enjoyed telling it.