Kaare Rawa Nei a au i te Pohewa i Pēhea Nā product reviews

My son, who is two, is Maori so I try and teach him as much Te Reo as I know, which is very limited! Lots of people in his family, or whanau can speak fluently and I think it is a real asset for the younger generation to learn as much as they can! I jumped at the chance to review Kaare Rawa Nei A Au I Te Pohewa I Peheana.

I read the book first to myself, looking up any words I was unsure of. Some of the pronunciation I had trouble with but think we got there. I used a Maori Dictionary I own and also found the glossary in the back of the book very helpful! I even learnt new things myself! That is always a bonus right?

We had a lot of fun reading the book together, TeAriki thought it was funny at first then I would read the page in Maori and explain it to him in English. It is a fantastic story with great illustrations! I found it amusing that the characters in the book are light skinned. I think this would be the perfect book to help and advance your Te Reo and I will be reading it again and again to perfect it!

Working in early childhood Te reo is a big part of our daily routine and while I speak some I need to increase my knowledge and I find books and awesome way to do it. When Kaare Rawa Nei a au I te Pohewa I Pehea Nā came up for review I was keen to put my hand up for a copy. Especially when I realised it was a retold version of I can't imagine how that happened.

When the book arrived I was a little overwhelmed but how many words it had, a little more te reo than I'm used too but I'm always up for a challenge. The first few times I read the book I read it alone so I stopped at looked up a lot of the words but it didn't take long for me to get it. I think the fact I knew the story in English helped. When I felt I was ready I snuggled up with a couple of children and read the book. I would read the page in te reo then they would use the pictures and the words they knew to guess what was happening on each page. I would then translate it into English. Most of the time they knew just what was happening though!

Both the story and the pictures in the book are delightful and I love the fact there is a glossary of words in the back. Even if you can't read te reo the pictures are bright colourful and tell their own story, the children at work spent a lot of time telling their own stories just based on the wonderful illustrations!