The Whale Rider

• Genre: Fiction; young adult myth/contemporary blend
• Originally Published: 1987
• Reading Level/Interest: Grades 6-12
• Structure/Length: 20 chapters; approx. 188 pages; approx. 3 hours, 44 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: Young Kahu, an eight-year-old Māori girl in Whāngārā, New Zealand, tries to prove her talents, gifts, and destiny to her patriarchal tribe when their future is threatened.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Gender inequality; death of animals; bullying of a child by an adult caregiver; prejudice; vehicular manslaughter

Witi Ihimaera, Author

• Bio: Born in 1944 in Gisborne, New Zealand; of Māori descent; became a writer to appropriately and accurately characterize and represent the Māori culture in stories and literature; worked for the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a writer and diplomat, but later became a lecturer and professor of Māori Literature at the University of Auckland; writes short stories, novels, nonfiction; edited Te Ao Maramara, a five-volume collection of literature by Māori writers (1992-1996); named a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (2004); awarded the Te Tohutiketike a Te Waka Toi (a Māori arts award, 2009); earned the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement (2017) for body of work
• Other Works: Tangi (1973); Nights in the Gardens of Spain (1995); The Uncle’s Story (2000); The Parihaka Woman (2011)
• Awards: New Zealand Booksellers’ Choice Award (2003)