A Maori tale from the South Pacific
Retold and illustrated by Gavin Bishop
Short listed for NZ Post Picture Book of the Year 1997.

Yes indeed, Maui was a trickster all right. He played tricks on his older brothers all the time. They were not always pleased with his tricky ways, but they could not help but admire him, for Maui did some pretty amazing things. One of the most amazing things he ever did was try to capture the sun.

It all began because Maui and his brothers had to cook and eat their fish in the dark. They were angry with the sun, who was in such a hurry to get back to bed that he raced across the sky each day, leaving only a few hours of sunlight for fishing. So Maui devised a daring plan. Armed with stout ropes and Maui's enchanted weapon - made from the jawbone of his grandmother - he and his brothers set out to teach the sun a lesson. After many weeks they arrived at the edge of the pit where the sun slept. There they laid their trap. But the sun was very powerful, hot and fierce and Maui and his brothers were only men. How could they conquer the sun?

Gavin Bishop has drawn on the Maori legends of his ancestors to craft an exciting trickster tale that is rich in the exotic flavour of Polynesia.