5 Great Kids Books Featuring Te Reo Maori

To celebrate Maori Language Week, we thought we would introduce some fun and engaging Te Reo learning resource gems that you may not have come across before.

The Goodbye Chair

Written by Jo Carson Barr and beautifully illustrated by her son Simon,

The Goodbye Chair is a sweet story about a young boy named Nicholas. Nicholas is dropped off at pre-school by his Nannie and surprises her by saying ‘goodbye’ in the three official languages of New Zealand: Te Reo Maori, NZSL, and English. Check it out here.

E Rua Nga Tuatara

E Rua Nga Tautara is written and illustrated by Adrienne Body. This quirky and colourful counting book featuring adorable New Zealand wildlife, is perfect for Te Reo Maori literacy and numeracy learning. Check it out here.

E Hia Nga Hipi

Another Te Reo work from Adrienne Body is E Hia Nga Hipi? Kids can practice counting in Te Reo Maori with some adorable woolly sheep. There are even some fab craft activity ideas, worksheets, and colouring pages provided for teachers and parents to photocopy.

Jack Feels Big

For kids, having the names for their feelings is a powerful tool. It allows them to better grapple with their emotions and communicate them to others.

Jack Feels Big is a collection of colourfully illustrated stories for parents and teachers to read to their kids to help them learn these important words in English, Te Reo Maori, and NZSL.

Te Reo Singalong

Based in Te Aroha, the Te Reo Singalong team write and produce funky Te Reo Maori Singalong book & CD bundles. Their titles cover such a great range of topics, we couldn’t choose just one to feature! It’s well worth checking out their website.