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Regional | Education

SPCA launches unique book in te reo Māori

The SPCA has launched its first te reo Māori animal storybook with the aim of helping children understand the value of animal welfare.  Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Otara was one of the first schools to receive free copies.

There are twelve different stories based on rescued animals.

Principal Marama Hune says, “When I saw the front cover I was in awe and wanted to know more about its content because the reo Māori is fantastic.”

Over 25,000 copies of the books are being distributed to schools.

Spokesperson for the SPCA Arnja Dale says, “We wanted to have real life context to actually get across real life animal welfare messages to our children.”

Eddie the rabbit is a rescue animal who was dumped in a box.  Now he's part of the initiative which inspired these stories in Te Reo Māori.

The collection is part of two series of learn-to-read story books which Evelyn Tobin translated to Māori from English.

“Te Reo Māori is an official language and we wanted to be able to access every single New Zealander.”