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  • Published: 31 August 2021
  • ISBN: 9780143775874
  • Imprint: Picture Puffin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 32
  • RRP: $16.99

Tuna Wātakirihi Me Ngā Tamariki O Te Tiriti O Toa, Te/Watercress Tuna and the Children of Champion Street



Patricia Grace and Robyn Kahukiwa's classic 1984 picture book of Watercress Tuna and the Children of Champion Street returns in a bilingual Māori-English setting.

A bilingual Māori-English edition of Patricia Grace and Robin Kahukiwa's classic story of an eel who brings children together to celebrate their diverse cultures, translated into te reo by Hirini Melbourne.

He aha ngā koha whakahirahira a te tuna korokoro huna kura mā ngā tamariki o te Tiriti o Toa?
Kei roto i ngā wātakirihi o te mīanga o Te Awa Iti
e noho ana he tena korokoro huna kura.
I tētahi rangi ka koromiko a Tuna i tōna whiore
ka kōwhiti mai waho i te mīanga o Te Awa Iti . . .

What special gifts does the magical Tuna bring the children of Cannon's Creek?

Since its publication in 1984, Patricia Grace and Robyn Kahukiwa’s story about a magical eel that presents cultural treasures to a group of Māori, Pasifika and Pākehā children, who then use their gifts to enrich their neighbourhood, is a firm favourite.

  • Published: 31 August 2021
  • ISBN: 9780143775874
  • Imprint: Picture Puffin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 32
  • RRP: $16.99

About the authors

Patricia Grace

Patricia Grace is one of New Zealand’s most prominent and celebrated Maori fiction authors and a figurehead of modern New Zealand literature. She garnered initial acclaim in the 1970s with her collection of short stories entitled Waiariki (1975) — the first published book by a Maori woman in New Zealand. She has published six novels and seven short story collections, as well as a number of books for children and a work of non-fiction. She won the New Zealand Book Award for Fiction for Potiki in 1987, and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2001 with Dogside Story, which also won the 2001 Kiriyama Pacific Rim Fiction Prize. Her children’s story The Kuia and the Spider won the New Zealand Picture Book of the Year in 1982.

Robyn Kahukiwa

Robyn Kahukiwa (Ngāti Porou) is a highly regarded New Zealand contemporary artist and award-winning author and illustrator of children's books.
Born in Sydney, Australia, she trained as a commercial artist and came to New Zealand at the age of 19, where she came to be known for her work drawing on Māori symbolism and mythological figures as well as for her staunch support of Māori women's rights. She has written and illustrated 12 books of her own, and illustrated a number of stories for other New Zealand authors, most notably Patricia Grace. In 2011 Kahukiwa was awarded Te Tohu Toi Kē a Te Waka Toi/Making a Difference Award for her contribution to Māori arts.

Praise for Tuna Wātakirihi Me Ngā Tamariki O Te Tiriti O Toa, Te/Watercress Tuna and the Children of Champion Street

Watercress Tuna deserves to be revered...because Grace achieves an indelible feat: she creates a story that celebrates the multicultural children of a low socio-economic community in a joyous, authentic and subtle way, while weaving in an element of the supernatural to mystify and excite the young reader.

Stacey Anyan, NZ Booklovers

All time classic book!

Lei, Good Reads