All our books are created by New Zealand authors and illustrators
Award-winning weaver of stories Gavin Bishop retells a variety of tales about the taniwha of Aotearoa, from the guardians who accompanied waka voyages to present-day inhabitants of the whenua and moana.
Taniwha are all around us.
They are good at hiding or changing their shape.
They can be very tricky.
If you want to meet one,
you have to know what to look for
and where to look.
Describing how the landscape was shaped, and exploring relations between Māori and the sometimes friendly, but more often terrifying, supernatural creatures, these traditional stories are taken to a new level of spooky visual splendour.
Written and illustrated by Gavin Bishop
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$40.00 incl. GST
1 in stock (can be backordered)
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Storylines Notable Non-fiction Book 2025
Ann Packer, NZ Listener ~ Gavin Bishop’s charming guide to the stories of the country’s mythical beasts is naturally beautifully illustrated, in earthy green and brown watercolours. Taniwha can be guardians or untrustworthy, appear in different guises (whales, sharks, geckos) and many are said to have come from the ancestral homeland of Hawaiki to Aotearoa with waka.
| First published | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Format | Hardcover edition |
| ISBN | 9781776957446 |
| Page count | 64 |
| Published by | Puffin Books, an imprint of Penguin |
