Author(s): Airana Ngarewa

NZ Adult Fiction | Short Stories/Plays | 04 - September

From the bestselling author of The Bone Tree comes a lively and playful bilingual collection of stories about growing up in Pātea. Interlinked and full of recurring characters, these stories are about growing up in small-town Aotearoa - sneaking away during cross country or doing bombs while the lifeguard isn't looking.

The collection is designed to bridge a gap between children's books in te reo and full-length literary works. With each story featured in both English and te reo Māori, it's the perfect resource for those on their reo learning journeys as well as for readers who enjoyed The Bone Tree.

A message from the author -

There are so many amazing books available in te reo Māori. All of them were written by the most incredible speakers of te reo - modern Māori Shakespeares. I am not one of them.

NGĀTI PĀTEA, the Māori half of PĀTEA BOYS, is written in the reo my cousins and I speak when we're washing dishes in the kitchen. It is straightforward. It is simple. And I think this straightforwardness and simplicity is what makes it special. If you're at kura or at the wānanga or just on your reo journey but haven't quite manifested your inner Scotty Morrison or Ruakere Hond, then you are the person I wrote this book for. The hope is this book will be the hill you climb before you pack your gear and scale the mountains that this book is pictured alongside.