In the spirit of Christmas the New Zealand Post Primary Teachers' Association / Te Wehengarua (PPTA) is continuing its commitment to help John Key with his holiday reading and has carefully selected themes he can use to reflect on the past year and the year to come.

“We hope John Key addresses the growing poverty gap in New Zealand with our latest gift to him, The Grapes of Wrath, says PPTA president Robin Duff.

Dear Prime Minister - Working together is the way to make progress

13 December 2011

Dear Prime Minister

The book we are sending today is for the fourth day of Christmas.

It is John Steinbeck’s classic novel, “The Grapes of Wrath”, published in 1939.  You will probably know that the central focus is the plight of the Joad family, sharecroppers forced off their land in Oklahoma by a terrible drought and impossible financial circumstances who migrate west to California in search of work in the fruit industry, but find themselves shamefully exploited by those with power and influence.