Winner of the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards (Illustrated Non-fiction) 2018!
Finalist in the 2018 CLNZ Education Awards (Best Secondary Resource).
Shortlisted for the Non-fiction category of the NZ Heritage Book Awards 2017.
Media
Book Review, Kate Fullagar, Australian Historical Studies, 49.4 (2018) pp.551-552.
'A Superb Scrutiny', Briar Wood, Landfall, 1 August 2018.
Book Review, Lloyd Carpenter, NZJH 52.1 (July 2018), pp.126-128.
Book Review, Bernard Dennehy, Tui Motu 229 (August 2018), pp.28-29.
'Book Review: Tuai: A traveller in two worlds, by Alison Jones and Kuni Kaa Jenkins', Emma Johnson, The Reader: The Booksellers NZ Blog, 15 February 2018.
'Tuai: A Traveller in Two Worlds', Nine to Noon, RNZ, 31 January 2018.
'Review: Tuai: A Traveller in Two Worlds', Lyall Hakaraia, New Zealand Studies Network, 14 September 2017.
'An explorer on planet Pakeha', Ann Beaglehole, Listener, 19 August 2017, p.54.
'Tuai’s life story of historical and national significance', Te Karere TVNZ, 10 July 2017.
'Tuai: A Traveller in Two Worlds', Extracts, e-Tangata, 9 July 2017.
'Tuai: A Traveller in Two Worlds – a new BWB Book', Scoop, 1 July 2017.
'Remarkable man and life in two cultures immortalised in a book', Northland Age, 4 July 2017.
'Northland news in brief', Northern Advocate, 29 June 2017.
'New book uncovers pre-Treaty stories of Ngare Raumati people', Maori Television, 28 June 2017.
'New book uncovers remarkable journey of young Maori man', University of Auckland, 28 June 2017.
Reviews
'Tuai is not always a gentle story; the account of the times popularly termed the Musket Wars is not easy reading, and the uneasiness with which Tuai accepted the mantle of leadership when Korokoro died in 1823 presages his own death in 1824. Yet, it remains a story worth reading and I commend the authors for a remarkable piece of scholarship and writing.'
- Book Review, Lloyd Carpenter, NZJH 52.1 (July 2018), pp.126-128.
'Why is this book such a fascinating read? Somehow the authors have managed to capture and transmit to the reader the energy, enthusiasm and curiosity of Tuai. This remarkable young man, of chiefly status, achieved more than most in his brief adult life from 1813 to 1824. His interests were so varied that the reader does not tire of the record which passes from one experience to another. This is an excellent biography recommended to all interested in pre-Treaty of Waitangi Māori-European encounters.'
- Book Review, Bernard Dennehy, Tui Motu 229 (August 2018), pp.28-29.
'The handsomely illustrated book, which includes portraits that Tuai and Tītere sat for while abroad, weaves an engaging biographical narrative through the wider historical context of the first encounters between Māori and Pakeha, both here and overseas.'
- Emma Johnston, Book Review, The Reader: The Booksellers New Zealand Blog, 15 February 2018
'The meticulous research of Jones and Jenkins (Ngati Porou), who are both professors in Maori education, has delivered a work that is insightful, scholarly and entertaining. It's a valuable book that gives Tuai the historical attention he deserves, and it sheds a somewhat subversive light on early Maori and Pakeha relations.'
- 'An explorer on planet Pakeha', Ann Beaglehole, Listener, 19 August 2017, p.54.
'told here with care and fairness' - Paul Little, Book Review, North & South, November 2017, pp.92-93.
'Jones and Kaa Jenkins weave together this vast array of information with steady and interpretive insight, and superb scrutiny of the way images of Tuai have circulated.'
- 'A Superb Scrutiny', Briar Wood, Landfall, 1 August 2018.
Endorsements
Tuai might have forever remained a footnote in our country’s history, were it not for the diligence of Alison Jones and Kuni Kaa Jenkins. They have, in effect, breathed life into Tuai, and have given the thousands of descendants of Te Tāwheta, rangatira of Ngare Raumati and Tuai’s tupuna, an enormous sense of pride. This book is also a stark reminder of how much the tribal landscape of Te Tai Tokerau has changed.
Te Warihi Hetaraka, Ngātiwai, Ngare Raumati, Kapotai, Ngāpuhi
The story of Tuai illuminates the wider history of early Māori travels in Europe. Wonderfully written and superbly illustrated, Tuai: A Traveller in Two Worlds is essential reading for anyone interested in how Māori and Pākehā encountered one another in the early nineteenth century.
Vincent O’Malley, author of The Great War for New Zealand: Waikato 1800–2000
Tuai: A Traveller in Two Worlds is a thrilling biographical narrative of a young Bay of Islands leader who grew up in the Māori world of the early nineteenth century – and crossed the globe to encounter England in the midst of the industrial revolution. This is a story about the Māori discovery of England. These voyages between worlds represented risk and opportunity: Tuai chose opportunity, and the rest is history.
Mānuka Henare, Associate Professor, University of Auckland