Project Huia / Des Hunt.

Novel for children.

"Logan's grandfather grew up near Palmerston North in the 1940s. One day, he and his sister Mavis spotted a beautiful and unusual bird in the kowhai tree outside their house: it was a huia bird, which was believed to be extinct. The bird flew away, and in an attempt to photograph it they managed to track it deep into the Manawatu Gorge. It was a dangerous journey through two train tunnels, made even more so when the horrible Carson boys got wind of their mission and decided to try and find the huia first so they could shoot it and sell its highly valuable feathers. More than 60 years later, 11-year-old Logan has returned to the Manawatu with Grandpop and a scientist to try and solve the mystery of what happened to the huia that he and Mavis found all those years ago. Grandpop must remember all the details of the events of many years ago. Can the group rely on his version of the events, and find the huia's final resting place? Will the huia still be there, and will its DNA still be valuable for scientific research into NZ's native fauna? And whoever would have thought that those Carsons are still living in the area and on the loose, and still up to their nasty tricks?"--Publisher information. Suggested level: primary, intermediate, junior secondary.