Level up your reading this summer with our Te Ara Poutama Level Up reading challenge. Try out these reads to complete the Aotearoa New Zealand quest or add to your reading log!
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Tāne Māhuta created wonders of nature that surround us, but human life eludes him. As he sculpts the form of a woman from the sacred red earth of Papatūānuku, Tāne Māhuta can't being to imagine what he is about to discover and all the beauty it behol...
Picture book
Ngākau Pono, Loyal Heart, has been looking after the pā’s people for hundreds of years. When the Pākehā arrive, Ngākau Pono's people leave the pā. With no one to look after, the taniwha sleeps for years until, finally, the sound of the karanga wakes ...
A little boy has made friends with the taniwha in his river, but no-one believes him. The taniwha takes the boy on a journey through time and myth where he meets some interesting characters, gathering the earth's treasures as he goes.
When I think about all the adventures Tane-Mahuta had and how he never gave up. I am grateful to him because if he hadn't kept going, I would not be here and neither would my poi business.
The sea creatures mock Pāua for being slow and unattractive. Tangaroa takes pity on him and gives him a dazzling shell of many colours. But the jealous sea creatures make Pāua miserable, so Tangaroa hides Pāua’s beauty where only he can see it.
The story of Waihiko, the god of electricity who is responsible for the digital world today.
The Astromancer chooses three boys and an orphan girl, Aria, to learn about Matariki and the Maramataka. Aria is bored by the lessons and doesn't want to be told what to do. But will Aria step up to save the tribe when Ruatapu the Ravenous is about to...
The fictional story of hapū Ngāti Tū Māia revolves around multiple generations, weaving their stories together in a way that celebrates tīpuna (ancestors, grandparents), mokopuna (grandchildren, descendants), and kaitiaki (guardian).
The cousins spend holidays in a rural Māori community. They play in the bush, ride horses, go eeling and swim at the beach. But a death leads to a rāhui placed on the beach. When the rāhui is lifted, and they return to the beach full of life and with...
Join Pipi, Pou, and Nana — katiaki with a superhero difference — as they journey through the forest, meet amazing friends, and try to calm a mountain before it's too late.
Following a fairy tale project at school, the children began to notice fairy tale themes to these problems. They had to explore the difference between fact and possibility as they sought answers.
To rescue their mum, Amorangi and Millie must travel up every branch of their family tree and collect an object from each ancestor they meet. They must then be back in the modern day before the sun sets, or they'll all be trapped forever in the past.
On a beach clean-up, 13-year-old Charlie and his brother find a ponaturi, a mermaid. An ancient and dangerous grudge between the Māori gods Tane and Tangaroa has flared up and the ponaturi believes Charlie is the only one who can stop the destruction...
Hine and her brother, Hōhepa, unwittingly step through a portal into an ancient realm inhabited by Māori deities, Kea bird tribes, patupaiarehe (fairy people), moa and giant eagles.
Before the beginning there was nothing. No sound, no air, no colour: nothing. TE KORE, NOTHING. However, in this great nothing there was a sense of waiting. Meet the gods, demigods and heroes of the Māori world and explore Aotearoa's legends from Creation...
Tongariro is forced to battle three strong mountains, Taranaki, Tauhara and Putauaki, to keep his wife, Pihanga, safe from them. This is the story of how he successfully banishes them to the positions where they stand today.
Māui, the great Pacific hero and trickster tells the stories from both long ago and recent times, the tales of some of the taonga held at Aotearoa New Zealand's famous national museum, Te Papa.
Similar to Māui, Tāwhaki was a demigod who possessed mighty powers. Tāwhaki almost died at the hands of his brothers-in-law but was found by his wife Hine-piripiri and revived. This near-death experience revealed Tāwhaki's status as a demigod, and from...
This Te Arawa Māori traditional story tells of two lovers forbidden to meet who find a way to be together. In the legend, Hinemoa lives by Lake Rotorua and Tūtānekai on the island, Mokoia. Hinemoa falls in love when Tūtānekai plays the flute, but Hinemoa's...
Te Wehenga is the separation of Ranginui, Sky-Father, and Papatūānuku, Earth-Mother... the reo Māori and English are woven together in a seamless bilingual approach to the text, with visceral illustrations underlining the mana of the story.
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