Te Kōkōrangi 2: Ariā Me te Atua o te Kūmara
  • Published: 21 May 2024
  • ISBN: 9781776958139
  • Imprint: Puffin
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 64
  • RRP: $25.00

Te Kōkōrangi 2: Ariā Me te Atua o te Kūmara

Te Rerenga o Whānui

Buy from…
The Nile Mighty Ape BookHub Whitcoulls The Warehouse Paper Plus Fishpond Book Hero Unity Books University Book Shop Find Local Retailers

Winner of Te Kura Pounamu Award 2025 and sequel to The Astromancer - translated into te reo Māori by Hēni Jacob.

Koia tēnei, ko te paki whakaihiihi e whai mai ana i Te Kōkōrangi.
Noho mōrearea ana ngā rā ki tua: kua mauheretia a Te Kōkōrangi e te hoariri kino, e Ruatapu, waihoki, e matemate katoa ana ngā māra kūmara.
Me mātua whai a Ariā mā — tae atu ki a Kurī — i te ara uaua a Tāwhaki. Me piki ki ngā rangi, ka inoi ai i a Whānui kia āwhina mai.
Heoi anō, me kamakama tonu, i te mea kua tata te putanga o Matariki. Āe rānei ka tutuki i a rātou tēnei kakenga mutunga mai o te uaua . . .


The gripping sequel to The Astromancer.
The future is looking bleak: not only is the Astromancer held captive by the wicked Ruatapu, but also the kūmara crops are dying.
Ariā and her fellow apprentices — and Kurī — must repeat Tāwhaki’s great feat and climb up into the heavens to ask the star Whānui for help.
They have to act quickly because Matariki is drawing close, but the journey seems impossible . . .

Winner, Te Kura Pounamu Award for a book translated into Te Reo Māori 2025
A Storylines Notable Te Reo Māori Book
  • Published: 21 May 2024
  • ISBN: 9781776958139
  • Imprint: Puffin
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 64
  • RRP: $25.00
Categories:

About the authors

Witi Ihimaera



Three-time winner of the Wattie/Montana Book of the Year award, Katherine Mansfield fellow and playwright Witi Ihimaera is one of New Zealand’s most prolific and accomplished writers. Witi’s first novel, Tangi, won the Wattie Book of the Year Award in 1974, a feat he repeated with The Matriarch in 1986. His celebrated novel Bulibasha, King of the Gypsies, now adapted as the film Mahana, won the Montana Book of the Year award in 1995. Witi’s other novels and short story collections include The Whale Rider (also adapted as an internationally successful film); Dream Swimmer (sequel to the award-winning The Matriarch); Pounamu, Pounamu and Nights In The Gardens of Spain. In 2015 he published the first volume of his autobiography, Maori Boy.
 

portrait photo of Witi Ihimaera

Isobel Joy Te Aho-White

Isobel Te Aho-White (Ngati Kahungunu, Ngai Tahu) is an award-winning Illustrator based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. Her book Santa’s Worst Christmas (2019) with Huia publishers was nominated for the NCYA Book Awards across five categories and her book Whiti: Colossal Squid of the Deep (2020) written by Victoria Cleal and published by Te Papa Press won a Whitley award for best children’s book. She is the illustrator of Witi Ihimaera's novels about Te Kōkōrangi, the Astromancer (Puffin, 2022 and 2024), a co-illustrator of The Maori Picture Dictionary/Te Papakupu Whakaahua by Margaret Sinclair and Ross Calman (Puffin, 2022), and her illustrations have enhanced well over 30 children's books to date.

portrait photo of Isobel Joy Te Aho-White

Praise for Te Kōkōrangi 2: Ariā Me te Atua o te Kūmara

Ko te ao mīharo nei i hangaia e Witi Ihimaera. Ka pai tēnei pukapuka mā ngā kāinga katoa, waihoki, mā te hunga e haikai ana ki tētehi pūrākau tūmeke i hāngaia ki te mātauranga māori.

Ariana Stewart, The Sapling

In A Ariā me te Atua o te Kūmara Witi Ihimaera brings pūrākau to life. Translated by Hēni Jacob, the smoothly flowing reo and captivating illustrations draw tamariki in so they are travelling alongside Ariā on her quest to save the world's dying kūmara crops.

Judges' comments, New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults

He nui ngā mānuka ka takoto i mua i te aroaro o Ariā me ōna hoa i a rātou e kake ana i ngā whetū, e kimi ana i a Whānui, ā, māna e whakaora mai ngā māra kūmara o te ao, engari kua ara kē mai ko Matariki. Ko tā te pūkōrero, tā Witi Ihimaera, he whakaora mai i te tikanga o te kōrero pūrākau ki tēnei paki whakaaweawe kua whakamāorihia e Hēni Jacob. Ko te tikanga, me pānui ā-waha, ā, mā te rōnaki o te reo, me ngā whakaahua whakamīharo e kukume mai te tamaiti, kia kite ai ia i a ia anō e hāereere ana i te taha o Ariā. Waihoki, mā tēnei pukapuka e tahuri ai te iwi ki te kōrero mō te hiranga o Matariki.

Judges' comments, New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults

Awards & recognition

Storylines Notable Te Reo Maori Award

Awarded  •  2024  •  A Storylines Notable Te Reo Māori Book

New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults

Winner  •  2025  •  Te Kura Pounamu Award for a book translated into Te Reo Māori

Discover more

Article
Best Books of the Year for Young NZ Readers

The New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults are a unique celebration of the contribution New Zealand’s children’s authors and illustrators make to building national identity and cultural heritage.