Cook Islands Heroes: Ngaru
Kia orana everyone! Kuki Airani Language Week is coming August 1st and I’ve got a new book to help celebrate the week. It’s a collection of achievers who have Cook Islands ancestry – from legends, through history and into the present. The aim of this book is to inspire Kuki Airani young people and anyone else who loves reading stories of people who overcame great challenges to achieve their goals in life.
The book will be launched at Tupu Youth Library on August 4th. In the lead up I’m going to post summaries of some of the people featured in the book to give you a sense of what it’s about.
Today’s Cook Islands Hero is Ngaru
The Avengers are cool. But there are some amazing Pasifika superheroes that the world needs to know about too. We all know Maui, the ultimate Pasifika superhero. But there’s also Muni of Tonga, Losi of Samoa and Laufoli of Niue, to name just a few. Here’s a depiction of Laufoli by Munro Te Whata in the book We Are the Rock:
One of the most interesting Cook Islands superheroes is Ngaru of Mangaia. Ngaru was trained by his Grandad and battled some of the most powerful opponents the world has seen including Tikorua the storm wave, Tumuitearetoka, a colossal shark and Amaiterangi, a mallet-wielding giant man eater who lived in the sky.
You can read about Ngaru’s exploits in Cook Islands Heroes https://readingwarrior.com/product/cook-islands-heroes/
