Rere Atu Taku Poi! Let My Poi Fly!  

Tangaroa PAUL  Rebecca GIBBS

 

Rere Atu Taku Poi! Let My Poi Fly! 
Tangaroa Paul, ill. Rebecca Gibbs
Oratia (2024)
32 pages, paperback
ISBN 978 1 99004248 5

 

This picture book, with its bilingual Māori and English text, uses a traditional Māori cultural performance as a framework for a social issue – sexual identity.

Rangi’s school is preparing for its end-of-year festival and the school theatre is full of students preparing their performances. Everyone puts their best effort into the haka (challenge) but when the girls were spinning their pois, some of the boys ‘mucked around behind them. They were being hōhā.’ [annoying] They mock Rangi when he encourages the girls.

At his Nana’s home, Rangi is fitted for his piupiu and watches recordings of Kapa Haka finals on her TV. He copies the elegant movements of the poi dancers, using his grandmother’s poi. He knows that his love of poi is ‘something that sets him apart from other kids.’ 

On the eve of performance Hine, leader of the girls’ poi, falls ill. ‘… they wondered how they could perform without Hine. Who would lead them?’ Rangi’s friend Tu reminds the teacher that Rangi has poi skills. ‘Kind of,’ admits Rangi. There is no time for a run-through. The evening’s performance has begun. After the welcoming haka and the action songs, it is time for the poi.

‘Wahine mā, ki ngā poi!’

‘Prepare your poi, ladies!’

 Rangi takes a deep breath and moves in front of the line of girls. Will he have the confidence? What follows is a charming conclusion where Rangi feels he has been his true self.  He also has a new ambition.

Tangaroa Paul, a lecturer in Māori language and a poi expert, has created a delightful story, which also opens the way for discussions on sensitive issues, such as gender roles and stereotypes.

Great strength is added to this book by Rebecca Gibbs’ colour illustrations, which give a convincing picture of a real school performance. The detail adds to the feel of authenticity, so readers will spot Nana’s patu and the various greenstone pendants and ear ornaments. One performer has kept his glasses on and another is in a wheelchair. Not all the performers are Māori, but all are enthusiastic. There is a real sense of inclusiveness and belonging.   

Translations of Maori words used in the English text are provided at the bottom of the page.

 

Trevor Agnew 

25 January 2024  [Review 3613]

 

Rere Atu ki Poroihia: Flight to Polynesia  
Tangaroa PAUL  Luca Tu’avao WALTON

 

Rere Atu ki Poroihia: Flight to Polynesia
Tangaroa Paul, ill. Luca Tu’avao Walton
Oratia (2026)
32 pages, paperback, picture book
 ISBN 978 1 99 004297 3 

 ‘I don’t know if there’s a Māori word for people like me, but I’m going to find out when I get home, said Rangi.’

This book is a sequel to the author’s groundbreaking Rere Atu Taku Poi! Let My Poi Fly! (2024) where young Rangi broke tradition by leading the girls’ poi performance. Rere Atu ki Poroihia: Flight to Polynesia (2026) begins as the school’s successful kapa haka team boards a plane for Honolulu.  They will be taking part in a Polynesian festival, bringing together school performance groups from all over the Pacific.  Tangaroa Paul tells Rangi’s story in both Māori and English.

At the Waikiki Stadium, Rangi meets Puna, a Hawaiian who plays an ipu heke gourd drum. Just as Rangi has made his own poi, Puna grew the ipu heke. ‘We learn how to grow our own from a seed at halau.’

The pair are joined by two other performers, Kalo from Tonga and Vai from Samoa. They discuss the traditional items they will be using on the stage, and the pride they feel in them.

When they see some of the other students staring, Rangi explains about his performing the traditionally female poi, ‘They don’t understand what it’s like to be me.’

The three are sympathetic. Pahu describes himself as māhū [gentle] with the sprit and energy of both male and female. Vai says, ‘I am fa’afafine. Although born a boy, we grow up with the values of both parents.’

‘I was told I am fakaleitī or leitī,’ said Kalo, ‘that’s to be like a woman. I use “leitī” because I know who I am.’

Rangi’s friendship with the trio sees him returning home to Aotearoa New Zealand with a determination to find his own identity. ‘He wondered if there was kupu Māori for him, too?’

 

The Tongan-New Zealand illustrator, Luca Tu’avao Walton, has enriched this story with dramatic colour illustrations, rich in Polynesian colours and patterns. He not only shows the characters proudly performing on stage but also depicts them at home, with Vai serving tea to an elder and Kalo striding confidently along with a fan emblazoned ‘leitī.’

 When Puna describes having ‘male and female energy and spirit in me’ we see two parents standing behind Puna, with their breath symbolically intertwining in traditional patterns.

This story is a sensitive introduction to how gender and identity is treated in several Pacific nations.

 To assist readers, various terms used in the story are defined at the bottom of the page on which they first appear. Thus, we learn that halau is a Hawaiian school, matai is a Samoan chief, and a kahoa heilala is a beaded necklace from Tonga.

 Trevor Agnew 

4 Mar 2026 [Review 3822]