Kia Hou Taku Tou! – kua reo Māori a I Need a New Bum!

Kia Hou Taku Tou/I Need a New Bum!

Translated by Stephanie Huriana Fong

Written by Dawn McMillan

Illustrated by Ross Kinnaird

Te reo Māori edition out tomorrow marks tenth-anniversary of global bestseller I Need a New Bum!

It was hearing her own tamariki plead to have Dawn McMillan and Ross Kinnaird’s books in te reo that motivated translator Stephanie Huriana Fong to get to work on the bestselling I Need a New Bum!.

Her sparkling, rhyming Māori version of the text arrives with perfect timing in September — ready for Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 2022, and also marking ten years since the book first hit the shelves. 

 

All of the colourful and active main text is in te reo, following our hero as he searches for a tou hou/new bum, after finding that his one has a crack. 

Kia hou taku tou! Ko tōku, kua tawhā. 

Ki te whakaata kitea ai te tāwha i muri nā.

 

‘Subtitles’ in English run at the bottom of the page to help readers of all ages to understand and learn.

Stephanie’s gorgeous rhyming reo is available at good booksellers nationwide from 1 September.

Kia Hou Taku Tou! ‘brings the New Bum home’ almost exactly 10 years after it was published on 20 September 2012. 

It marks the latest in a string of language versions — the boy with the cracked behind has delighted readers in American English, Chinese, Italian, Korean and Portuguese, with further editions under development in Spanish and Turkish. 

The translator

Stephanie Huriana Fong (Te Rarawa) is a registered translator of te reo Māori who also appears on Māori Television and in other media. She has translated several other books, including Rona Moon (Oratia Books, 2020). Stephanie lives with her whānau in Te Atatū, Auckland.

The authors

Dawn McMillan is the much-loved author of numerous children’s books including I Need a New Bum! , Doctor Grundy’s Undies and the 2020 release Sir Singlet. She lives in Waiomu, north of Thames. Ross Kinnaird is a legendary illustrator and designer whose books have been published around the world, many of them in collaboration with Dawn. He lives close to the water on Auckland’s North Shore. 

Publication: 1 September 2022  |  ISBN: 978-1-99-004224-9 | RRP $19.99

Paperback, 230 x 215 mm portrait, 32 pages, colour

 

Moe mai rā e te rangatira, ko Tā Toby Curtis

Dr Sir Noble Tamihana (Toby) Curtis
1939–2022

Kua hinga te tōtara ki te Wao Nui a Tāne. The totara has falled in the forest of Tane.

Moe mai, moe mai, moe mai rā e te rangatira. Rest in peace, chief.

  

Oratia Books joins with the Curtis whānau, friends, colleagues and Te Arawa iwi in mourning Dr Sir Toby Curtis (Ngāti Rongomai, Ngāti Pikiao), who passed away on 17 August. 

 

Knowing that he was unwell, over the past year Sir Toby worked with friend and colleague Dr Lorraine Berridge McLeod to record his life story and views on key areas from his stellar career — especially Māori education and leadership, and his experience of racism. 

 

His unique memoir intersperses biography with text boxes that analyse key issues like the loss of te reo, religious colonisation, educational underachievement and broadcasting policy.

 

As Tā Toby’s health failed, Toby, Lorraine and the Oratia team pulled forward publication of his book. Sadly time was against us publishing before he passed, but at least he saw the book away to the printers. 

 

Toby Curtis — Unfinished Business: Ki hea āpōpō will publish on 17 November this year, three months after Toby’s passing. 

 

It will stand as his legacy to the nation he loved, and sets out a wero (challenge) — as the subtitle indicates, he felt his life’s business to be unfinished. The book concludes by enjoining coming generations to carry on his work, quoting Te Arawa orator, Kepa Ehau:

 

Whaia ko te mātauranga 

Hai whitiki mo te iwi 

Me ngā uri

Ka toa ai.

Pursue the wisdom of knowledge 

So your efforts and achievements 

May be the springboard

For future generations to thrive and prosper.

Updated version of classic dictionary explains key vocabulary in te reo Māori

Illustrated Māori Dictionary

Māori–English Essentials

A.W. Reed

Illustrated by Roger Hart

Two outstanding talents came together to create one of New Zealand’s very first illustrated dictionaries in 1965. 

 

Publisher and author A.W. (Clif) Reed and illustrator Roger Hart created this book in 1965, understanding that pictures provide an invaluable aid in the process of language learning. 

Then called Maori Picture Dictionary, the book concisely explained the meaning and use of essential Māori words, with two drawings per page.  

Now this classic work is back as the Illustrated Māori Dictionary, in an expanded edition that preserves the retro design style of the original. 

Editor and translator Ross Calman (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Toa, Kāi Tahu) has updated the text to reflect modern usage.

 

That includes harmonisation of macrons — which Reed adopted early for the original book — to mark long vowels.

Not only a handy reference work, this fascinating Māori-English dictionary represents a classic of Kiwi publishing. 

It adds to Oratia’s list of te reo reference works, and our New Zealand Classic series that brings important books back into print.

The author

A.W. Reed (1908–1979) was one of New Zealand’s most influential writers and publishers. He helped build A.H. & A.W. Reed into the country’s leading publisher by the mid-twentieth century, and authored more than 200 books. Among his numerous works still in print are Oratia Books’ Māori Place Names, Favourite Māori Legends and He Atua, He Tangata: The World of Māori Mythology. 

Publication: 16 August 2022  |  RRP $34.99  |  ISBN:  978-1-99-004213-3

Paperback, 210 x 148 mm, 144 pages, b&w

Sumptuous new book honours the artist Hundertwasser's legacy in New Zealand

 
 Hundertwasser in New Zealand

The Art of Creating Paradise

Andreas J. Hirsch

‘New Zealand is for me a kind of promised land.'

 

In public art and architecture, the love that Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928–2000) felt for his adopted homeland rings clear. 

The Koru Flag that he gifted the country, his Public Toilets that revived the heart of Kawakawa, and now the Hundertwasser Art Centre in Whangārei testify to the immense place New Zealand had in his heart. 

Hundertwasser in New Zealand is a lavishly illustrated new book that tells both the public and personal stories of what drew Hundertwasser to his ‘promised land’. 

 

The opening chapter traces Hundertwasser's fascination with New Zealand and his arrival in the 1970s

His dreams of New Zealand started early, when his mother would tell him of this land of peace as they hid from the Nazis in Second World War Vienna. 

As his artistic reputation grew and his travels expanded, Hundertwasser felt ever more drawn to New Zealand as a place of refuge, where he could paint as well as create his version of paradise, and live a life in harmony with nature. 

 

He first arrived in April 1973, mounting a major exhibition and travelling the country. Later he would return on his ship theRegentag (‘Rainy Day’), settling at Kaurinui, the land he bought and restored in the Bay of Islands. 

‘Art must form a bridge to nature,’ Hundertwasser observed; he was never nearer to living this peaceful reconciliation with nature than in New Zealand.

 

Hundertwasser in New Zealand is a richly illustrated and accessible account of the artist’s love of Aotearoa, his interaction with the people and land, and the influence these had on his work. 

Planning and realisation of the Koru Flag

In superb, lucid prose, eminent curator and writer Andreas J. Hirsch outlines the key stages of the artist’s life and his trajectory in New Zealand — including chapters on his commitment to nature, the Regentag in Aotearoa, and the art, philosophy and architecture he created here.

Featuring a rich assortment of paintings, drawings, sketches, photographs and the artist’s writing, this book is itself an artistic statement that will connect with readers of all kinds and help enshrine Hundertwasser as a New Zealand icon.

Whangārei's Hundertwasser Art Centre features prominently in the book's latter pages

The Author

Andreas J. Hirsch is a writer, curator and photographic artist who lives in Vienna, Austria. He has a long involvement with the art of  Hundertwasser. Andreas was curator of the KunstHausWien (Hundertwasser Museum) in Vienna from 2009 to 2014; in 2011 he edited the book Hundertwasser — The Art of the Green Path and curated the exhibition of the same title for the museum. He has created exhibitions about artists and photographers including Henri Cartier-Bresson and Linda McCartney; among his other writings are books on Picasso, HR Giger, Beethoven, and the history of Vienna. 

Publication Date: 16 August 2022 |  ISBN: 978-1-99-004214-0 |  RRP $70

Deluxe hardback, 260 x 190 mm portrait, 240 pages colour

Hickory Dickory Kick — high jinks on field and off for the rugby season

Hickory Dickory Kick

Peter Millett

Illustrated by Bob Darroch

Rugby, rhyme and riotous fun in new picture book about a game to remember, and read again …

With the rugby season in full swing, it’s not just the teams on screen that are out there indulging in the national sport. 

Set in a Kiwi heartland stadium where the field has a few hazards (watch those cow pats) and the players are of a certain age, Hickory Dickory Kick commentates a game of true country footy. 

The difference is that this commentary is based on the nursery rhyme ‘Hickory Dickory Dock’, and the action is not just on the field. 

The flanker loses his sock. The jumper splits his pants, then the halfback hides the ball and the winger gets tangled in granny’s knitting, before the loosehead’s fart clears out the scrum …

 

That’s a cue for the old dog Buck (‘Hickory Dickory Bark’) to run on the field and take off with the ball, and chaos ensues. 

Long-time rugby fans and well-known children’s authors Peter Millett and Bob Darroch team up to share the joy of a game where everyone gets involved.

 

Hickory Dickory Kick will appeal to primary-age rugby fans and those who love to read to them.

The authors

Peter Millett has published over 100 books worldwide, including bestsellers My Old Man, He Played Rugby and The Anzac Puppy. Pete writes fun stories for children from five years and up. A keen rugby fan, he lives with his family in Auckland. (See petermillettbooks.com.) 

Bob Darroch has written and illustrated numerous children’s books over a long career as an artist and cartoonist, including the bestselling Little Kiwi series and (for Oratia Books) The Longdrop and Captain Cat. He lives in Temuka, South Canterbury.

Publication: 1 August 2022  |  ISBN: 978-1-99-004235-6 | RRP $19.99

Paperback, 230 x 215 mm portrait, 32 pages, colour