Lopini the Legend

‘Lopini the Legend’ is the story of Lopini, a Year 8 Tongan-Palangi “perfectionist” who experiences public failure for the first time when the kapa haka leadership role he has held for two years is given to a new student. Although Lopini understands why Hemi, who is Māori and fluent in te reo is given the role, he can’t help but feel a sense of shame at losing the position. After sharing his feelings about this with his best mate Fi, he realises that the reason he is so affected by the loss of the leadership role is that he has never really failed at anything in his life. This discovery leads him on a journey to step out of his comfort zone and fail things on purpose so that he will not have such a strong reaction when he does fail.

A strength of the book is how Tu’akoi manages to bring the characters of Lopini and Fi to life through realistic dialogue and a range of social situations which make them highly relatable. Key events in the story are beautifully portrayed through a series of delightful vignettes illustrated by Story Hemi-Morehouse, a feature that readers will undoubtedly enjoy and appreciate. The use of Lea Faka-Tonga (Tongan language) in the book and for the chapter numbers is a nice touch as it serves as a reminder of Lopini’s Tongan/Palani cultural background.

Lopini’s goal to desensitise himself against the sting of failure and Fi’s ideas to help him by setting random challenges for him to complete make for entertaining reading with surprising results. Lopini’s battle to overcome overthinking and perfectionism forces him out of his comfort zone and helps him uncover hidden strengths and opportunities to help others in his community.

There are a range of themes in this book but the most prominent ones are friendship, perseverance and resilience. Key messages that this book delivers are the importance of self-awareness and that it’s okay to be less than perfect. Overall, this book is an absolute joy to read and has many positive messages for readers who are young or young at heart.