This Te Wiki o te Reo Māori we dug into the catalogue to find some ka pai suggestions to help you immerse yourself in te ao Māori. Even if you can’t yet speak te reo, Palmerston North City Library has resources to support your use of te Reo Māori.
We also have some great Aotearoa New Zealand books encompassing te ao Māori into the storylines, and even in te reo Māori. Here’s some of our team’s picks for rangatahi to check out.
Ngā pukapuka o te Ao Māori (Books of Te Ao Māori)
Aotearoa New Zealand stories
The Pōrangi Boy ko Shilo Kino
Twelve-year-old Niko lives in Pohe Bay, a small, rural town with a sacred hot spring and a taniwha named Taukere. The government plan to build a prison here and destroy the home of the taniwha, which has has divided the community. Some are against it, but others see it as an opportunity. Niko is worried about the land and Taukere, but who will listen to him? He’s an ordinary boy who’s laughed at, bullied, and called pōrangi, crazy, for believing in the taniwha.
Bugs ko Whiti Hereaka
Meet Bugs: smart, sarcastic, sixteen and stuck in a small town without a driver’s licence. Bugs has been best mates with Jez forever; they’ve always been Jez and Bugs, Bugs and Jez. That is until Stone Cold, the new girl, arrives in town. The year was already going to be a challenge without adding spoilt, bitchy Stone Cold to the mix. Why would anyone want to be mates with her? But things are never as they seem on the surface – not the picture-perfect postcard views of Taupō, not the drama-queen antics of Stone Cold, not the quiet brooding of Jez. Not even Bugs. Now, as the future closes in, each will struggle with expectations: either trying to live up to them or trying to live them down.
Huia short stories : Contemporary Māori fiction
Diverting, beautiful, strong: these stories could come from no other country. Selected to highlight new fiction from accomplished Maori writers.
Cuz ko Liz Van der Laarse
River is offered the chance to crew on his uncle’s trawler — a coastal trip to get a new engine. He finds his cousin Huia annoying — she’s all about Māoritanga while he can’t even speak the language. When an accident leaves the two cousins stranded on the coast of Fiordland they must work together to save themselves.
Kia kaha : a storybook of Māori who changed the world ko Stacey Morrison
A collection of true stories about amazing Māori who have achieved incredible things. Each of them blazed a trail in their own way, and this pukapuka was written to show that with your kura huna, your special gifts, you can make a difference too.
Wāhine toa : omniscient Māori women
The creation myths of the Māori are profoundly beautiful. They speak to us directly about birth and death, and about love – between man and woman, mother and child. In this remarkable body of work depicting the eight principal female protagonists in the myths – from Te Pō, the darkness before the world and all being, to Hinenuitepō, the goddess of death who claimed Māui as she claims the least daring of man.
Stories in te reo Māori
Tūtewehi, ko Fred Maro
“Arā tētahi patupaiarehe rerekē rawa atu. Ko Tūtewehi tōna ingoa. He hautipua, he whakahīhī hoki. Arā kē atu a Matakairangi. He patupaiarehe anō. He hoa rānei, he hoariri rānei ki a Tūtewehi? Ehara te ao patupaiarehe mō te tokorua rā. Kotahi noa iho o rāua ka toa, ka ora. Engari ko te pātai ia, ko Matakairangi rānei? Ko Tūtewehi rānei?
Te kaieke tohorā/ The Whale Rider ko Witi Ihimaera
The whale rider was Kahutia Te Rangi, Ancestor of the people of Te Tai Rāwhiti. Then there was Kahu. The first great-grandchild of the whānau, she was loved by all her relatives except the one whose love she needed most – her great-grandfather.
Available in te reo Māori and English.
Graphic Novels
Wars in the Whitecloud : Wairau, 1843 ko M. H. McKinley
In a small clearing of land nestled within the Wairau valley two peoples met; the recently established settlers of Nelson, and the governing tribe of that region – the renowned Ngati-Toa. When they marched, both sides were prepared for confrontation… yet they weren’t expecting that their actions would drastically alter the future of the nation.
Arohanui : revenge of the fey ko Andrew Burdan
A story of two hostile tribes: one thriving, the other starving and forced to enter into a hard bargain to survive. In the midst of the conflict, two lovers from opposing tribes, Kahu and Kuratawhiti, plan to bring their warring tribes together through their marriage. But tragedy looms as Kahu defends his beloved Kuratawhiti against his treasured sister, Mira, who unleashes a lifetime of rage on Kuratawhiti and her people
Available in English and te reo Māori.
