When her tribe is defeated in battle, Atapo is captured and becomes a slave of her enemies. Freedom seems impossible; the penalty for runaway slaves is death.
But when sickness strikes the village, Atapo is blamed, and now it is even more dangerous to stay. To save her life, she escapes to the Pakeha mission station at Paihia. There, Atapo is taught to read and write, and learns of the threat to Maori by some unscrupulous settlers greedy for land.
Against the backdrop of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, Atapo discovers how her education can save her tribal lands and help her reclaim her destiny as the guiding star of her people.
Behind The Book…
When Scholastic began publishing their excellent My Diary series I saw a list on a librarians’ whiteboard of topics there was very little or nothing written about for children. The Treaty of Waitangi was on that list and I knew it’d be fascinating to research that era to find out how Maori lived who hadn’t come into much contact with Europeans and also to find out about the lives of the missionaries and their families. I did set myself a problem though – how do you write the diary of a girl who only speaks Te Reo? I had to bend the rules of diary writing a bit.
- Fleur Beale
Reviews For Mission Girl
The author skilfully uses Atapo's story to fill in many historical and domestic details of everyday life in Paihia in the months leading up to the signing of the Treaty.
- Around the Bookshops
Beale's writing is first rate and this is a novel that will help young people understand how our nation was formed.
- Dominion Post
Young readers will enjoy this journal as a vivid adventure and love story.
- Magpies
This was really good. It was very interesting to learn about what life might have been like back in the 1840s. Really enjoyed it.
- Charlotte, GoodReads