He whakamāori i tā Dr. Seuss pakiwaitara rongonui, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

‘Me mihi ka tika, te toa o te rā! Tūrou, Hawaiki! Tō pai! Wehi nā!’

Topa mai, taka mai, ko ngā piki me ngā heke o te ao o te tangata te aronga nui o tēnei kōrero reka nā te mātanga, nā Dr. Seuss. He kupu akiaki kei roto e maumahara ai te tangata ki ōna painga, e mataara ai ki ngā uauatanga, me te toro mātātoa atu ki te ao e tāwhiri mai ana.

‘He koi koe ā-runga. He kama ā-raro. He kākano koe e kore e ngaro.’

I Nōu te Ao, e Hika e!, kua mau i a Karena Kelly te paki, te toi, te taki me te koi o Seuss, e mōhio whānuitia ana, i tana tārai i te kupu hei reo Māori mō te pakiwaitara rongonui nei.

A Māori language translation of Dr. Seuss’s classic for young and old, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

‘Congratulations! Today is your day. You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and away!’

 From soaring high-flyers to lurches and slumps, Dr. Seuss’s wonderfully wise Oh, the Places You’ll Go! speaks to the ups and downs of life. It encourages us all to remember our strengths, recognise the challenges, and grab life with both hands.

‘You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.’

In Nōu te Ao, e Hika e!, Karena Kelly brilliantly captures Seuss’s verbal wit and wisdom, and his trademark rhythm and rhyme, while finding this great story its Māori voice.

Te Kaituhi / Author

Nō te tau 1904 a Theodor Seuss Geisel whānau mai ai i Springfield, i Massachusetts – ko Ted te ingoa i mōhiotia rā e ōna hoa, ko Dr. Seuss ki te hia nei miriona tāngata e monoa ana ki āna mahi. Mutu ana tana ako ki te Kāreti o Dartmouth, i New Hampshire, ki te whare wānanga o Oxford hoki, i Ingarangi, ka huri ia ki ngā mahi tuhi pakiwaituhi mō te maheni, ki ngā mahi whakatairanga anō hoki. Ka tere kawea ana tini pūkenga ki te tuhituhi pukapuka mā te tamariki. Nō te tau 1937 tāngia ai tana pukapuka tuatahi And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, ā, nui atu i te ono tekau atu anō ngā pukapuka mā te tamariki kua puta i a ia, ko ētahi o ngā tino pukapuka o te ao, e arohaina nuitia ana e te iti me te rahi – ko The Cat in the Hat (nō te tau 1957), ko How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (nō te tau 1957) ko Green Eggs and Ham (nō te tau 1960), me The Lorax (nō te tau 1971). Ko Oh, the Places You’ll Go! tā Seuss kupu ōhākī, i tāngia i te tau i mua i tana matenga, i tōna tau waru tekau mā whitu.

Theodor Seuss Geisel – known as Ted to his friends and as Dr. Seuss by his millions of fans – was born the son of a park superintendent in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1904. After studying at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, and later at Oxford University in England, he became a magazine humorist and cartoonist, and an advertising man. He soon turned his many talents to writing children’s books. His first book And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street was published in 1937 and he went on to publish more than sixty of the most beloved children’s books of all time, from The Cat in the Hat (1957) and How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957) to Green Eggs and Ham (1960) and The Lorax (1971). Published one year before his death at age eighty-seven, Oh, the Places You’ll Go! is Dr Seuss’s farewell salute.

Te Kaiwhakamāori / Translator

Ko te reo me te wetereo Māori te kai a Dr Karena Kelly  (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine). E whakaako ana ia ki te hia nei kaupapa reo Māori, ko ngā kura reo ā-rohe, ā-motu anō hoki ētahi, ā, e tohutohu ana i ngā tini hinonga huri noa i Aotearoa ki ngā kaupapa reo. He pūkenga a Karena i Te Herenga Waka, i Te Whanga-nui-a- Tara, i reira rā puta ai tōna ihu ki tana tohu kairangi i te tau 2015. He ika a Whiro ia nō Te Panekiretanga o te Reo, he kaiwhakamāori anō hoki nō te Toi Reo Māori. He kanorau ana whakamāoritanga tuhinga auaha, he toi kupu nā Homer, nā Apollinaire, nā Katherine Mansfield, nā Julia Donaldson hoki. Nō onamata ētahi, nō nā tata nei ētahi atu. Katoa ana whakamāoritanga o ngā pukapuka mā te tamariki, he hua nō te awhero nui kia huhua, kia kounga hoki ngā pukapuka reo Māori hei pānui tahi mā rāua ko tana tama nohinohi, ko Asher. Ko te whakamāoritanga o tā Seuss Oh, the Places You'll Go!, ko tana koha ki tana tama, i tana huritau tuarima.

Dr Karena Kelly is a specialist in Māori language and linguistics – teaching into a variety of Māori language fora, including regional and national kura reo, and providing strategic and linguistic advice to organisations throughout New Zealand. Karena lectures at Victoria University of Wellington, her alma mater, where she graduated with a PhD in 2015. She is also a graduate of Te Panekiretanga o te Reo, the Institute of Excellence in the Māori Language, and a Toi Reo Māori licensed translator. Her literary translation portfolio is diverse, including the works of Homer and Apollinaire, Katherine Mansfield and Julia Donaldson. Her translations of children’s literature are borne of her desire for an abundance of great books in te reo Māori to share with her young son, Asher. The translation of Dr. Seuss’s Oh, the Places You’ll Go! was her gift to him for his fifth birthday.