A companion study guide accompanies the novel, organised by theme rather than chapter, so it can be used alongside a single unit of work without requiring the whole novel to be read cover to cover — though it rewards those who do.
Each theme pairs specific scenes from the novel with a direct, current-day policy question, giving students a concrete "then and now" to argue from rather than an abstract prompt.
The guide and workbook are built around the novel itself — chapter references, specific scenes, specific decisions.
Read the first ten chapters online, free — the same story your class would be reading. One inspection copy free for your department; class sets at a reduced rate.
22 pages. Curriculum connections, discussion questions by theme, essay and assessment prompts, and a chapter-by-chapter discussion index. Opens in your browser.
30 pages. The reproducible worksheets your class fills in — launch scenario, decision-matrix and trade-value exercises, key concepts glossary. Opens in your browser.
Read the guide and workbook right now, above — no form, no wait. Want a physical inspection copy or a class-set quote?
There is little difference in the underlying principles of 21st-century policy from 14th-century ones — only in scale. Exploration, technology, trade, immigration, education, defence: the questions a fictional chief weighs in 1300 are the same ones New Zealand debates today. THE RISING TIDE was written to make that comparison impossible to avoid.
Wayfinding, risk, and the decision to sail beyond the last known shore.
Obsidian, sails, and the argument that innovation compounds — one advantage builds the next.
Pounamu, tūhua, and the arithmetic of a growing trade network — dramatised, not lectured.
Who is welcomed, on what terms, and what a nation owes the tribes it absorbs.
A society's first school, and the argument that literacy is a strategic asset, not a luxury.
How much a growing nation should spend preparing for a threat it cannot yet see.
A useful frame for classroom discussion in its own right: ask students which term they'd add, remove, or reweigh for New Zealand today.