Reddit mentions of The Whale Rider

The native people are known as Maoris, one of the most famous novels/movies to come out of their culture was Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera. It's located off the Eastern coast of Australia, kind of in the same general area as Tonga and Fiji.

Native myths claim New Zealand as a fish brought up by Maui, I think. If I remember correctly, he told his brothers not to touch the fish, but they did not listen and cut it in half. Something happened and the brothers died, and the fish became the islands.

Either that, or it's a piece of his fishing hook. Haha.

Oh gosh, I have all sorts of favorite NZ books.

Witi Ihimeara's The Whale Rider and Where's Waari? a collection of short stories are two of my favourite books. Ask the Posts of the House is another one. I love all Ihimeara's work. Another book I love is Keri Hulme's The Bone People.

The best one I would go with, if you can find it, is Where's Waari? He's collected short stories from throughout NZ's literary history and put them together in an anthology to tell the story of the Maori. It's one of my favourite books, right up there with Lord of the Rings.