Success written in the stars
Broadcaster Miriama Kamo has been telling stories of a different kind.
The host of TVNZ’s current affairs show Sunday has launched her first published children’s book The Stolen Stars Of Matariki or Nga¯ Whetu Matariki i Wha¯ nakotia with illustrator Zak Waipara.
Matariki is the Ma¯ori name for the seven-star constellation, known as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters, that rises in the northeast and signals the Ma¯ ori New Year in June.
But Kamo’s story is based on the theory – supported by Ma¯ ori astronomy expert Dr Rangi Ma¯ ta¯ mua – that there are actually nine stars.
Scholastic New Zealand asked the 44-year-old, of Nga¯ i Tahu and Nga¯ ti Mutunga heritage, to create the work after liking her writing style from a different pitch she made to them which was turned down.
That work, though apparently not quite as loved by the publishing firm as her children, was called something like Sir Reginald And The Quest For The
Golden Fart.
The Stolen Stars Of Matariki involves two children named after Kamo’s own kids, Sam and Te Rerehua – ‘‘my oldest boy has been shrunk from 17 to age 8’’ – who go eeling while staying with Grandma and Po¯ ua at Birdling’s Flat/Te Mata Hapuku along the Canterbury coastline.
It’s a special place for Kamo, who used to spend time in the area with family when she was a kid.
The story goes that one night Sam and Te Rerehua look up at the stars and realise that two are missing. ‘‘And that begins the adventure’’ of getting them back.
The book reads: ‘‘Pai kare!’’ she exclaimed. ‘‘What’s happened to Matariki? There are normally nine stars but tonight I see only seven. What’s happened to Pohutukawa and Hiwa-i-te-Rangi?’’
The book has been published in both English and te reo Ma¯ ori, though the English version has te reo throughout.
In case you were wondering ...
Our masthead – loosely translated as ‘‘the report of the head of the fish’’ (based on the legend of Ma¯ui fishing up the North Island) – is to celebrate Matariki, which runs till July 7, and to mark the launch of Wellington City Council’s te reo Ma¯ori policy.