Stolen Stars Of Matariki

Behind dusty orange hills, where the sky stretches down to the sea, theres a magical, wild, windy place called Te Mata Hapuku. Sam and Te Rerehua love to visit their Grandma and Poua at Te Mata Hapuku (aka Birdlings Flat). They like to collect agate from the stories, with a backdrop of whipping wind, flashing torchlight, and the splash of Pouas gaff in the water. But one night, Grandma notices something mysterious. Someone has stolen some stars from the sky. And then the patupaiarehe come out to play on the beach... Can Sam and Te Rerehua rescue the Matariki stars?

There is a bright new star in the winter sky-Puanga, cousin to the Matariki sisters. Each year, she appears to the people of Aotearoa, a special sign for those unable to see Matariki, that winter and the Maori new year are coming. A new addition to Scholastic's popular Matariki range, this time introducing readers to the Puanga star, which is celebrated for Maori New Year and the coming of winter in place of Matariki along parts of the West Coast of New Zealand.

When he sees his brothers bewitched by seven beautiful women, the adventurous young Mītai must step in. The Seven Stars of Matariki is a contemporary myth of love, magic and adventure that celebrates Matariki and tells how the star cluster came into being.

It is a special time of year. A time when the whispering wind blows warm from the east, and a crescent moon rises in the wintry night sky. Seven little sisters make kites with eyes of seashells to celebrate the New Year. But that playfulwind whips those kites away... Matariki is here!

In mid-winter, Matariki rises in the pre-dawn sky, and its observation is celebrated with incantations on hilltops at dawn, balls, exhibitions, dinners and a vast number of events. The Matariki tradition has been re-established, and its regeneration coincides with a growing interest in Māori astronomy. Still, there remain some unanswered questions about how Matariki was traditionally observed. These include: What is Matariki? Why did Māori observe Matariki? How did Māori traditionally celebrate Matariki? When and how should Matariki be celebrated? Based on research and interviews with Māori experts, this book seeks answers to these questions and explores what Matariki was in a traditional sense so it can be understood and celebrated in our modern society.

An absorbing, clever debut thriller that speaks to the longstanding injustices faced by New Zealand’s indigenous peoples, by an acclaimed Māori screenwriter and director A tenacious Māori detective, Hana Westerman juggles single motherhood, endemic prejudice, and the pressures of her career in Auckland CIB. Led to a crime scene by a mysterious video, she discovers a man ritualistically hanging in a secret room and a puzzling inward-curving inscription. Delving into the investigation after a second, apparently unrelated, death, she uncovers a chilling connection to an historic crime: 160 years before, during the brutal and bloody British colonization of New Zealand, a troop of colonial soldiers unjustly executed a Māori Chief. Hana realizes that the murders are utu—the Māori tradition of rebalancing for the crime committed eight generations ago. There were six soldiers in the British troop, and since descendants of two of the soldiers have been killed, four more potential murders remain. Hana is thus hunting New Zealand’s first serial killer. The pursuit soon becomes frighteningly personal, recalling the painful event, two decades before, when Hana, then a new cop, was part of a police team sent to end by force a land rights occupation by indigenous peoples on the same ancestral mountain where the Chief was killed, calling once more into question her loyalty to her roots. Worse still, a genealogical link to the British soldiers brings the case terrifyingly close to Hana’s own family. Twisty and thought-provoking, Better the Blood is the debut of a remarkable new talent in crime fiction.

'Tonight we have to go to bed really early,' said Mum. 'Tomorrow morning we are going to have a surprise.' But what event would be so special to get you up in the middle of a cold New Zealand winter? Matariki is rising and the New Year is on its way.

An anthology of new New Zealand verse, which first appeared in the popular Friday Poem slot in The Spinoff website. It features some of the most well-known and established names in New Zealand poetry as well as new, exciting writers. It is a showcase of New Zealand poetry.