Genre
Children’s
Picture Book
Hineraukatauri me Te Ara Pūoro
Elizabeth Gray
$22.00
Storylines Trust Notable Te Reo Māori Award 2024
This story charts the journey of Hineraukatauri – a cocoon/chrysalis who has entered a new realm, the human world, without their voice. It’s dark and wet, Ranginui and Papatūānuku have not yet separated or are in the process of having their offspring create space between the two.
In visiting each of the offspring, they gift Hineraukaturi a different component or aspect of music, ultimately her voice, represented in the shape of the Pūtōrino. Renowned musician and composer, Hirini Melbourne happens across the shape, and his breath, in playing it, gives life to all the gifts as he makes beautiful music through this instrument.
Meet the illustrator – Rehua Wilson
Pages
28
Language
Māori
Publication Date
May 31, 2024
Dimensions
210 mm x 270 mm
ISBN (Soft Cover)
978-1-77550-824-3
"This book will be a fantastic resource for schools and kura kaupapa, for use across the curriculum... Hineraukatauri me te Ara Pūoro is a powerful picture book for learning, language, identity and mātauranga. Whakanuitia te pukapuka."
"Elizabeth Gray’s writings are a part of a huge movement for the revitalisation of our stories and kōrero tuku iho about taonga pūoro. This is a very important pukapuka that will revitalise the stories that were once lost, and instil them into the hearts and minds of tamariki Māori (Māori children) and also tamariki of Aotearoa and beyond."
"Hineraukatauri me Te Ara Pūoro tells the pūrākau of the becoming of Hineraukatauri, from chrysalis to atua of taonga pūoro – and Rehua Wilson's illustrations embody the kaupapa with a breath-taking synaesthetic skill that seems quite magical. There is an innate musical quality in the light and shade, the stabs and washes of bright colour, the delicate linework tracing a visual melody. Familiar atua are encountered in perhaps unfamiliar forms, the line between the literal and the figurative is always permeable, and the relationship between te Ao Wairua and te Ao Kikokiko is reflected in a way that feels right, feels tika."
"In Hineraukatauri me Te Ara Pūoro, the kupu take the form of an oriori, a chant, a lullaby. The words' gentle rhythm invites readers to find their own intonation, melody, and voice, as Hineraukatauri finds hers. This is a book meant to be read aloud in te reo Māori – it is the poetry intrinsic to the language itself, so skilfully composed by kaitito Elizabeth Gray, that allows us to fully inhabit the kaupapa. While a translation would no doubt enchant readers in English as well, something beautiful would necessarily be lost. There could not be a more deserving first recipient for this award."