Inflation busters: Māui — Sun Catcher and Rona Moon return in more affordable paperbacks

Māui – Sun Catcher / Māui – Te Kaihao i te Rā 

Tim Tipene

Illustrated by Zak Waipara

Translated by Rob Ruha

Rona Moon / Ko Rona Māhina

Tim Tipene

Illustrated by Theresa Reihana

Translated by Stephanie Huriana Fong

 

Paperback editions of Tim Tipene's retelling of two traditional stories are now in print, offering these fully bilingual English and Te Reo editions in a more affordable format. 

The paperback editions are priced at $22.99, a 12% reduction from the previous hardback books. 

Māui — Sun Catcher/Te Kaihao i te Rā sets the famous story of Māui catching the sun in a modern city. Māui is a schoolboy who lives with this mother and four older brothers in a city where the day is never long enough to things done. 

Māui (who speaks in rhyme) seizes the moment:

Mum, I’m gonna catch that Sun for you.

That Sun who’s always on the run. 

Te Rā ka hopukina mōhau, e māmā.

Te Rā, ka hohoro te kakama.

After weaving a flax net, the brothers drive to the pit where the Sun lives, and make their play to slow the day. 

Award-winning author Tim Tipene weaves a spell-binding modern tale, accompanied by manga-influenced illustrations by esteemed artist Zak Waipara, with te reo Māori translation by musical star Rob Ruha.

Rona Moon/Ko Rona Māhina stars Rona as a young girl who gets angry with everyone — her brother, her Nana and Papa — until one night she calls the moon stupid!

Taken to meet her ancestor Whaea Rona on the moon, she learns a lesson in how to control her temper:

‘Everything looks so small from up here,’ said Rona. 

‘I know,’ Whaea beamed. ‘Even the reasons we felt angry seem so little.’

 

‘Hanga nohinohi te ao katoa atu i konei,’ tā Rona. 

‘E mea ana koe,’ te mene atu a Whaea. ‘Kua hanga nohinohi hoki ngā take i pupū ai ō tāua riri.’

Tai Tokerau artist Theresa Reihana created special illustrators, using photo collage approach, and Stephanie Huriana Fong (familiar to viewers of Whakaata Māori) provided a superb translation. 

 

These books are a great read for primary school readers, students of te Reo and anyone who loves traditional stories, myths and retellings. 

 

The authors

Tim Tipene (Ngāti Kurī, Ngāti Whātua) is the award-winning author of over 12 children’s books, and a pioneering youth counsellor. He lives with his family in Rānui, West Auckland. 

Zak Waipara (Rongowhakaata, Ngāti Ruapani) is a renowned illustrator and writer of books, comics and animations. He is a lecturer in digital media at the Auckland University of Technology.  

Theresa Reihana (Ngāti Hine) is a visual artist who has exhibited worldwide, and is now venturing into book illustration; she lives near Kaitaia. 

Translators

Rob Ruha (Te Whānau a Apanui, Ngāti Porou) is a chart-topping musician, songwriter and champion of te reo Māori who is based in Rotorua. 

Stephanie Huriana Fong (Te Rarawa) is a registered translator of te Reo who also works in television and other media; she lives in Te Atatū, Auckland

Publication: 17 November 2022  |  RRP $22.99 |

ISBN: (Māui) 978-1-99-004232-4  (Rona) 978-1-99-004233-1

 Paperback, 270 x 210 mm portrait, 32 pages, colour

 

The late Sir Toby Curtis lays out a wero to future generations in new book written with Lorraine Berridge McLeod

Toby Curtis
Unfinished Business – Ki hea āpōpō

Sir Toby Curtis with Lorraine Berridge McLeod

The late Te Arawa leader sets out his life from poverty to  knighthood with frank views on education and racism

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

Toby Curtis – Unfinished business: Ki hea āpōpō follows Toby’s progress from his humble origins through family life and his mahi as a teacher and lecturer, government adviser in education and broadcasting, and leader of the Te Arawa iwi confederation. 

Interspersed throughout are text boxes that take a more academic approach to key issues like the loss of te reo, religious colonisation, educational underachievement and government policy.

The result is an engaging story of a life emerging from the shadows of a Pākehā-led model to a bicultural society, balanced with opinions that will challenge and inform thinkers for years to come. 

Sir Toby passed away on 17 August. This book stands as his legacy to the nation he cared about so passionately, and sets out a wero (challenge). 

As the subtitle indicates, Tā Toby felt his life’s work to be unfinished, with a long way to go to for Aotearoa. Ki hea āpōpō!

Moe mai, moe mai, moe mai rā e te rangatira. Rest in peace, chief. Your words carry forward the business for others to finish.

The authors

Sir Toby Curtis (Ngāti Rongomai, Ngāti Pikiao) had a distinguished teaching career before lecturing at AUT University. After retiring to Rotoiti, Rotorua, he led the Te Arawa Lakes Trust for 16 years, among many other roles. Sadly, he passed away before this book could be published. 

From a farming background, Lorraine Berridge McLeod was a teacher, principal lecturer at AUT, dean of early childhood education in Auckland and then associate professor of education in the United Arab Emirates. A long-time colleague of Sir Toby’s, she lives in Taranaki. 

Publication Date: 17 November 2022 |  ISBN: 978-1-99-004230-0  |  RRP $39.99

Paperback, 234 x 153 mm portrait, 180 pages, black & white with colour sections