Ngā Ngeru

Ngā Ngeru is a charming picture book that will appeal to tamariki and whānau looking for stories to share in te reo Māori. The story follows three characters; Puruhi, Wuruhi and Naki. Puruhi is an immaculately groomed cat and expert at karate. Puruhi’s friend Wuruhi is a dog who miaows like a cat. Naki has just moved from Otepoti into Pāia Street.

Sarah Illingworth’s Illustrations area beautiful compliment to Amiria Stirling’s kupu. For those of us who are still building our vocabulary in te reo Māori, the pictures are really helpful. Although some of the vocabulary was new to me and my tamariki, we were able to work out most of the new words through context and by looking at the illustrations. The illustrations also helped us to understand the personalities and characteristics of each of the three characters.

I really enjoyed the taumata of the reo that Amiria Stirling has used in Ngā Ngeru. Although there were some unfamiliar words, I could work out most of them through the context of the story and the pictures. The amount of text on each page was quite short: each page has 4-8 short, rhyming lines. This will be manageable for whanau who are still building their punareo. The rhyme makes the story enjoyable to read, even if every word isn’t understood.

This is a really good resource for whānau who have some fluency in te reo Māori, particularly whanau who have tamariki in Kohanga Reo or Kura Kaupapa. It will also be appreciated by Early Childhood Centres, Kohanga Reo, Kura Kaupapa Māori and Reo Rumaki classrooms.

Ngā Ngeru is also available in English under the title The Cats of Pāia Street.