Brave K?hu and the P?rangi Magpie

SHORTLISTED: 2025 NZSA Best First Book Award, New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults
STORYLINES NOTABLE BOOK 2024

'A heartfelt story of sibling connection and the importance of accepting differences, which follows three young hawks as they navigate their personal flight paths in a dangerous world.' NZCYA judges
'Brave Kāhu and the Pōrangi Magpie takes a fresh, hawk-like dive into the fictional lives of our native manu. Beautiful writing for young readers.' - Aotearoa New Zealand Review of Books
'A stunning story of family, te taiao, and rising to an occasion.' - The Spinoff

Poto is the perfect fledgling - the apple of her father's eye and a natural at hunting and flying. Anything a kāhu is supposed to be good at, Poto can do best of all. She can't understand why her sister Whetū gets cross with her - it's not her fault she's good at everything! As for her baby brother Ari, he's so weird and annoying.

After their mother is killed by a flock of magpies, Poto and Whetū have to get an injured Ari to safety before a deadly foretold earthquake arrives, unleashing a flood and destroying their home. With the help of the birds and new friends they meet on the way, the hawk siblings journey through the Valley, keeping an eye out for a menacing flock of magpies who are on a mission to take back the Valley for their own.

Can they stop Tū the makipai and her flock from ruining the harmony of the Valley? Will aroha win out over hate? And will Poto realise that everyone has something special to offer, even if they can't do everything quite like she does?

Brave Kāhu and the Pōrangi Magpie is a cracking children's adventure story in the vein of Watership Down, from emerging author Shelley Burne-Field (Sāmoa, Ngati Mutunga, Ngati Rārua, Pākehā).