Watercress Tuna & the Children of Champion Street

Description

This classic Kiwi treasure is the story of a tuna (or eel, in English) who leaves his creek and visits the children of Champion Street. As he visits each one, they pull something out of his mouth: Kelehia gets a kie, Karen gets some shoes, Hirini gets a piu piu, Tuaine gets a pate, Roimata gets a poi, Kava gets a hau, Nga gets a pareu, Losa gets an ula, Jason gets a paper streamer and Fa'afetai gets an ailao afi. The children all go out on to the street and dance day and night. Watercress Tuna is a fun celebration of dancing and music, and is beautifully illustrated by Robyn Kahukiwa.

Patricia Grace (Author) Patricia Grace is one of New Zealand's most celebrated writers. She has published over 35 titles, including novels, short-story collections, works of non-fiction and books for children, a number of which have been translated into te reo Maori. Among numerous awards, she won the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards in 1986 for the much-loved Potiki, which also won the New Zealand Fiction Award in 1987. She was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2001 with Dogside Story, which won the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Fiction Prize. Tu won the 2005 Montana New Zealand Book Awards Fiction Prize and the Deutz Medal for Fiction and Poetry. Her children's story The Kuia and the Spider won the Children's Picture Book of the Year and she has also won the New Zealand Book Awards For Children and Young Adults Te Kura Pounamu Award. Patricia was born in Wellington and lives in Plimmerton on ancestral land, in close proximity to her home marae at Hongoeka Bay. Robyn Kahukiwa (Illustrator) Robyn Kahukiwa (Ngati Porou) is a highly regarded New Zealand contemporary artist and award-winning author and illustrator of children's books. Born in Melbourne, 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 Maori symbolism and mythological figures as well as for her staunch support of Maori 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 Ke a Te Waka Toi/Making a Difference Award for her contribution to Maori arts.