Whale Rider  •  Witi Ihimaera LITERATURE •  2003 •  PAPER  • 168 PAGES • COMING IN A magical, mythical work, this novella (now a movie) follows the fate of a young Maori girl and her attempts to honor the traditions of her ancestors. Ihimaera takes as a point of imaginative departure his experiences growing up in the rapidly transforming Maori village of Waituhi, near Gisborne on the isolated east coast of New Zealand's North Island. Originally published in 1987 as a young adult novel, Ihimaera has written a series of librettos, novels, short stories and memoirs, many addressing the political and social reality of the Maori. (NZL64, $8.00)
Beginner's Maori  •  K. T. Harawira  •  T. R. Buxton LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS •  1997 •  PAPER  • 121 PAGES • COMING IN A guide to the Maori language, written for the traveler looking for an introductory foundation to the language, culture and traditions of the Maori people. (NZL36, $8.95)
Tutira, The Story of a New Zealand Sheep Station  •  Herbert Guthrie-Smith  •  William Cronon NATURAL HISTORY •  1999 •  PAPER  • 464 PAGES • HARD TO FIND ELSEWHERE • COMING IN First published in 1921, this loving acount of the ecology of New Zealand focuses on Guthrie-Smith's 40,000-sheep shearing station on the shores of Lake Tutira. He covers the geologic setting, ecology and and impact of sheep on the region. With line drawings, maps and a few period photographs. A Weyerhaeuser Environmental Classic, this edition of the classic environmental history is championed by historian William Cronon. (NZL26, $24.95)
Janet Frame, An Autobiography: To the Island, An Angel at My Table, The Envoy from Mirror City  •  Janet Frame BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1991 •  PAPER  • 435 PAGES • COMING IN The three-volume memoir of one of New Zealand's most original writers. From her impoverished upbringing to her misdiagnosis with mental illness to her transformation into a distinguished novelist/poet, Frame's is a story of courage and creativity. Told in haunting, evocative prose. (NZL25, $19.95)
Volcanoes, Fire From the Earth  •  Maurice Krafft NATURAL HISTORY •  1993 •  PAPER  • 175 PAGES • COMING IN A volume in the acclaimed Discoveries series, this lavishly illustrated pocket-size encyclopedia is an overview of volcanoes and volcanology by the great French scientist (who died on the job on Mount Unzen in Japan in 1991). It's a history of our understanding of volcanoes, a profile of some of the most famous examples, and an excellent introduction to how they are formed. (GEO06, $12.95)
Seabirds of the World, A Photographic Guide  •  Peter Harrison FIELD GUIDE •  1996 •  PAPER  • 317 PAGES • COMING IN A field edition of Harrison's definitive seabird identification guide, featuring 740 color photographs. It illustrates all the world's seabirds, many in a variety of plumages. The book also contains a convenient key to identifying the confusing albatrosses, petrels and other tubenoses, as well as range maps and information about habitats and distribution. This is the book that you'd carry on any sea voyage; our ten-year-old edition has been everywhere. (FG16, $29.95)