Book description
A gripping adventure based on an ancient Maori myth is brought to life
in this award-winning junior novel. 'A dark shape hurtled out of the fog
. . . The bird turned in a curving steep dive, aiming for Tama . . . The
boy was being dragged beneath it, his feet barely brushing the tops of
tussocks . . ..' Owl and Tama could hardly be more different. Owl has a
lot to cope with. He s trying to get used to life without his Dad while
helping his family run their struggling farm. All he wants is to escape
by getting into archaeology and improve his climbing. And along comes
Tama, a disgruntled city kid. Owl s family supposedly has to help him
out. Tama won t say much, but Owl can tell he s full of aggro and
resentment. The boys are set for a stand-off. Yet Tama s arrival
coincides with Owl s discovery of some Maori cave drawings. Owl s
interest in the rock art, and the tension between him and Tama, somehow
unleash a disturbing malevolence from the past. Together they have set
free the forces of the ancient myth of the Pouakai, a brutal man-eater
bent on destruction. Owl and the reluctant Tama must decode the story of
the cave drawings so they can defeat the creature: to save themselves,
Owl s family, and the local farmers. A wild, gripping novel that
retells the Waitaha legend of the Pouakai, a ferocious giant eagle. .
Owl was awarded Best in Senior Fiction at the 2002 NZ Post Book Awards
for Children and Young Adults, and was also listed as a 2002 Storylines
Notable Senior Fiction Book. Joanna Orwin is a writer for children and
adults with a background in plant ecology.. Her fiction and non-fiction
books share a focus on New Zealand's natural environment, Maori history
and mythology, and European history. She won the Children's Book of the
Year Award for The Guardian of the Land (1985). Her books for children
are Ihaka and the Summer Wandering (1983), which was followed by Ihaka
and the Prophecy (1984); The Guardian of the Land (1985); Watcher in the
Forest (1987); and Tar Dragon (1997) and Out of Tune (Longacre, 2004)
which was a finalist in the Young Adult Fiction Category for the 2005
New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, and made the
2005 Storylines Notable Young Adult Fiction list. Joanna Orwin was the
2009 recipient of the University of Otago College of Education ChildrenÂ
s Writing Fellowship.
