A Manulele in a Mango Tree:
Le Manulele o nofo i le Mago:
A Pacific Christmas

 

A Manulele in a Mango Tree:
Le Manulele o nofo i le Mago:
A Pacific Christmas
Sarona Aiono-Iosefa
Ill. Steven Dunn
Translator: Le’autuli Sauvao, MNZ                    

Reed (2004)
Oratia (2025)
Picture book, Song book
Paperback, 32 pages
ISBN  978-1-99-004292-8

 

This cheerful (and sing-able) book provides a Pacific variant of the beloved Christmas song. It was originally published by A.H. & A.W. Reed in 2004, with the slightly daunting title, ‘Two Cans of Corned Beef and a Manulele in a Mango Tree: a Pacific Christmas’.  Today, 21 years later, it is a timeless classic, beloved across the Pacific.

Oratia have republished it in their Moana Oceania series, as A Manulele in a Mango Tree: Le Manulele o nofo i le Mago: A Pacific Christmas. It is a bi-lingual book with an English and Samoan text

The author, Sarona Aiono-Iosefa, a Samoan New Zealander, has provided some Polynesian elements in the traditional Christmas mix of gifts, first outlined in ‘A Partridge in a Pear Tree’. Her Pacific version begins with a manulele (flying bird) in a mango tree, followed by two cans of corned beef, three frangipanis, four rolls of tapa and five pairs of jandals.

Steven Dunn’s coloured wood-block illustrations are magnificent, particularly those showing people’s activities. The ‘nine hats a-hiding’ are seen providing their owners with cover at an Islands church service on a White Sunday, while the eight chiefs a-chatting, seven women weaving and ten hula dancers are all full of life. His hand-painted colours are strikingly beautiful, especially in the illustration of the three frangipanis.
The translation is by Le’autuli Sauvao [Le’autuli’ilagiTautua Malaetā Sauvao] MNZM

A glossary is not really needed; the illustrations leave readers in no doubt about what the six lavalava are, or what the seven women are weaving. Nevertheless, here is a bonus glossary.

Glossary for non-Pacific folk:
Corned beef – an important element of modern Pacific Islands diet
Frangipani – a scented flower
Jandals – popular light footwear in New Zealand and Pacific (Ja-panese sa-ndals); flip-flops.
Lavalava – colourful cotton skirt, from Samoa
Mango – sweet, juicy tropical fruit
Manulele – a flying bird, a metaphor for freedom
Tapa – traditional cloth, made from mulberry bark

Trevor Agnew, written 13 May 2026 as an update of 2004 review