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November 14, 2022
Need for young adults book in te reo Māori
Adam Gifford
Posted On November 14, 2022
Download AudioA Māori language teacher wants more te reo speakers to consider writing books for tamariki.
Jane Cooper’s adventure story He Raru ki Tai- To Trap a Taniwha – based in Tamaki Makaurau/Auckland 100 years before contact with Europeans – was published last week.
It tells the story of 2 young girls who embark on a dangerous journey throughout their hapu’s territory to try to save a sea taniwha from being trapped and killed by their own people.
“So the novel has lots of references to the material culture of the time… gardening, maramataka, fishing, waka, etc. So, you know I really want kids to appreciate that there was a really strong civilisation here, prior to pakeha colonisation,” she says.
Ms Cooper says there simply aren’t enough junior fiction books, in te reo, to meet the needs of the growing generations of bilingual students.
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