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  • Published: 29 July 2025
  • ISBN: 9781776957194
  • Imprint: Picture Puffin
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 32
  • RRP: $22.99

Te Whaea o te Motu

Whina Cooper me te Hīkoi roa mō te Manatika




Meet Dame Whina Cooper, the kuia who championed Māori rights, women’s rights and led a famous hīkoi for positive change – te reo Māori edition of Mother of the Nation, translated by Stacey Morrison.

A Maori-language, illustrated true story for children about Dame Whina Cooper, one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most exceptional leaders: a courageous and outspoken wahine toa whose legacy lives on today.

TĒRĀ TE PŌ, KA MOEMOEĀ A WHINA KEI RUNGA POTI IA, E HAUKUME ANA I TĒTAHI TAMAITI I TE MOANA. KO TANA WHAKAMĀRAMA I TĒRĀ, KO TE POTI TANA HAERENGA I TE AO, KO TAUA TAMAITI TE ANAMATA O NGĀ TAMARIKI KATOA . . .

Ka tamaiti tonu ana a Whina, i mārama kē tana matua he kaitātaki tūturu a Whina.
I a ia e 18 tau ana, ka whakarite i tana porotēhi tuatahi, hei tiaki i te whenua o te iwi.
I a ia e 56 tau ana, ka āwhina ki te whakatū i Te Rōpū Wāhine Māori Toko i te Ora.
Nāwai rā, i a ia e 79 tau ana, he inati tana hīkoi i te 1000 kiromita ki te Pāremata, hei tuku i te kōrero:
Kia kaua e riro ko te Kotahi Eka Anō o te Whenua Māori.

Ko tēnei te kōrero pono mō tētahi tino wahine toa – ko tētahi o ngā tino kaiārahi o Aotearoa, nāna te takimano o ngā Māori me ngā Pākehā i whakakotahi ki te whakatika i ngā hē, nōna hoki te mana me te manawanui e whakaoho tonu nei i a tātou i ēnei rā.

Also available in English as Mother of the Nation: Whina Cooper and the Long Walk for Justice.

  • Published: 29 July 2025
  • ISBN: 9781776957194
  • Imprint: Picture Puffin
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 32
  • RRP: $22.99

About the authors

David Hill

David Hill is a prolific and highly regarded New Zealand writer, playwright, poet, columnist and critic. Best known for his highly popular and award-winning body of work for young people, ranging from picture books to teenage fiction, his novels have been published all around the world and translated into several languages, and his short stories and plays for young people have been broadcast here and overseas.

Born in Napier, New Zealand, David studied at Victoria University of Wellington and became a high-school teacher, teaching both in New Zealand and the UK. In 1982 he became a full-time writer and his first novel for teenagers, See Ya, Simon (1992), about a boy with muscular dystrophy, was shortlisted for major awards in New Zealand and the UK and won the 1994 Times Educational Supplement Award for Special Needs. An enduringly popular novel used as a class text in high schools all over New Zealand, in 2002 it was awarded the Storylines Gaelyn Gordon Award for a Much-loved Book.

David has published more than 50 titles over four decades. His middle-grade novels include My Brother's War (2012), which won the Junior Fiction Award and the Children's Choice Junior Fiction Award in the 2013 New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, the LIANZA Librarian's Choice Award and was listed as a Storylines Notable Junior Fiction book, a White Raven and an IBBY Honour book. This was followed by novels Brave Company (2014) – also a Storylines Notable Junior Fiction book; The Deadly Sky (2015); Enemy Camp (2016), which won the 2016 HELL Children’s Choice Award for Junior Fiction; Flight Path (2017), a Storylines Notable Book; Finding (May 2018), Highly Commended in the New Zealand Heritage Book Awards 2018; and Coastwatcher (2021).

Below (2022) won the Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award for Junior Fiction at the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults 2023. Described as 'a white-knuckle survival story set in a catastrophic tunnel collapse', the judges commended the way 'it trusts its young readers to handle big environmental ideas and come to their own conclusions'.


David is also the author of a number of critically acclaimed picture books with illustrator Phoebe Morris. First to the Top (2015) is their bestselling story of the life of Sir Edmund Hillary, which won the 2016 Children's Choice Award for non-fiction and was a 2016 Storylines Notable Picture Book. Speed King (2016), about the world-record-breaking achievements of Burt Munro, and Sky High (2017), recounting the life of the daring aviator Jean Batten, were both presented with Storylines Notable Picture Book awards. Hero of the Sea: Sir Peter Blake's Mighty Ocean Quests was published in 2018 and Dinosaur Hunter: Joan Wiffen's Awesome Fossil Discoveries was published in 2019.

In 2004 David was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit and in 2005 he was awarded the Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal, acknowledging his significant contribution to children's literature in New Zealand.

In November 2021 David was awarded the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement - Fiction in recognition of his outstanding contribution to New Zealand Literature.

He lives in New Plymouth with his wife Beth, and juggles his many writing projects with numerous school visits, leading professional development for teachers, mentoring new and emerging writers and tutoring creative writing.

Story Hemi-Morehouse

Story Hemi-Morehouse (Ngāti Koata, Ngāti Kuia, Ngāti Toa Rangatira) was born in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) and moved to Australia when she was young. She was always obsessed with comics and drawing and turned her love of illustrating into a career. Story's first published book, Mokopuna Matatini/The Greatest Haka Festival on Earth by Pania Tahau-Hodges, was shortlisted for four awards in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults 2022. She has since added several more picture books to her portfolio and in 2023 Kua Whetūrangitia a Koro/How My Koro Became a Star, with author Brianne Te Paa, was a finalist in the Best Picture Book and won Te Kura Pounamu Award. Story lives and works on Yugumbeh Country (Gold Coast, Australia) and, thanks to the flexibilty of freelance work, also gets to spend regular time in Aotearoa.

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