The P?rangi Boy

WINNER,Young Adult Fiction Award, New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adult, 2021

Twelve-year-old Niko lives in Pohe Bay, a small, rural town with a sacred hot spring ? and a taniwha named Taukere. The government wants to build a prison over the home of the taniwha, and Niko?s grandfather is busy protesting. People call him p?rangi, crazy, but when he dies, it?s up to Niko to convince his community that the taniwha is real and stop the prison from being built. With help from his friend Wai, Niko must unite his wh?nau, honour his grandfather and stand up to his childhood bully.