Nag Tai Korero means the currents of speech, a reference to the Maori tradition of oral storytelling. This book retells in simple form fourteen Maori stories and myths that have been passed down over centuries.
Traditional Maori Legends
Monsters
A Hat Full Of Sky
The Heroine: Tiffany Aching, incipient witch and cheese maker extraordinaire, once saved world from Queen of the Elves, and is about to discover that battling evil monarchs is child’s play compared to mortal combat with a Hiver. At eleven years old, she is boldest heroine ever to have confronted the Forces of Darkness while armed with a frying pan. The Threat: A Hiver, insidious disembodied presence drawn to powerful magic. Highly dangerous, frequently lethal. Cannot be stopped with iron or fire. Its target: Tiffany Aching.
Worst In Show
It’s time for The Best Pet Monster in the World Competition and Albert can’t wait to enter his very own monster, Sidney. But is sweet, well-behaved Sidney really the smelliest, dirtiest, most parasite-ridden monster of all?
Love Monster and the Perfect Present
Love Monster is determined to give his best friend, a lovely girl monster, the perfect present on Gift Day, so when he discovers he cannot afford to buy anything special enough, he has an idea to make something, instead.
How To Catch A Bogle
In 1870s London, a ten-year-old orphan girl, Birdie AcAdam, becomes the apprentice to Alfred, who traps monsters for a living.Birdie lures the bogles out of their lairs with her sweet songs, and Alfred kills them before they kill her. On the mean streets of Victorian England, hunting bogles is actually less dangerous work than mudlarking for scraps along the vile river Thames (see glossary!).
Anubis Speaks!
Anubis, the ancient Egyptian jackal-headed god of embalming, invites young readers to climb aboard his magic boat for a trip to the Land of the Dead. When the sun goes down, readers join Anubis as he and Ra, the sun god, fight the forces of chaos and destruction unleashed by the Evil One, a giant snake named Apophis. It’s a battle waged each night until sunrise when the forces of good prevail. During the journey, readers will meet gods, monsters, and pharaohs, learn the techniques of mummification, and help Ra conquer darkness and bring light to the world at dawn.
Scare Scape
Morton, James, Melissa, and their father have just moved into an old house in a new town, and when Morton finds a creepy gargoyle buried in the yard, he and his siblings each make a wish–and find out that they have unleashed chaos.
Gris Grimly’s Frankenstein, Or, The Modern Prometheus
Retells, in graphic novel format, Mary Shelley’s classic tale of a monster, assembled by a scientist from parts of dead bodies, who develops a mind of his own as he learns to loathe himself and hate his creator.
Can’t Scare Me!
A fearless little boy ignores Grandma’s warning about nighttime monsters until he runs away and meets the two-headed giant’s three-headed brother.
Friends
Happy was an international hit that showed off Mies van Hout’s uncanny ability to convey feelings with her vibrant illustrations.
With Friends she goes one step further and shows emotional interactions. Just as she made the fish of Happy uniquely hers, here she uses monsters to show different situations–they cuddle, laugh, play, but they also fight, tease and more–making the images recognizable for little monsters of all ages.