"The kids are the real stars," said co-author Tui Gilling, an Auckland Transport Māori policy and engagement adviser.
"They designed the characters and the outfits, so what you see is what they designed.
And they do the voice-overs for the book.
"They all have quite distinctive voices. They are all Māori speakers first, so the Māori was easy - it was the English that was the hardest."
Ms Gilling, who is from Te Whānau a Apanui and has a 10-year-old son, Waiarikinui, in a rumaki reo (immersion unit) at Richmond Rd School, came up with the idea for the book.
Auckland Transport has won previous Māori Language Week awards for activities such as staging kapahaka in its train stations and creating posters with Māori and English names of locations on the Auckland Transport network.
"We wanted to take a different approach to Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori this year. We wanted something with more longevity," she said.
She wrote the book with Nikora Wharerau of Kiwa Digital, with illustrations by Moanaroa Te Whata.
Te Raki o Pukekohe, a decile 1 school where 155 of its 183 students are Māori, was chosen to collaborate.
Adult characters in the book tell the children about the history of places they pass in the train, such as Matukutūreia (McLaughlins Mountain), a heavily-quarried but still distinctive old pā site near the new Wiri prison, and Portage Rd at Westfield, where travellers used to drag their canoes overland between the Waitematā and Manukau Harbours.
The book cost $25,000, mainly to build the app. Ms Gilling said it was part of her team's broader work to build Auckland's Māori identity into its transport infrastructure. Other recent projects include historical boards at the new Hobsonville wharf, and a new footbridge in Mt Roskill's War Memorial Park designed in the shape of a traditional double-headed hīnaki (eel trap).
In the long term she hopes that all signs on the transport network will be bilingual.
"We'd like to have dual signage on our network at some point."
Te reo Maori translation
Ko ngā tamariki o tētahi akoranga rumaki Māori i Pukekohe ngā whetū o tētahi pukapuka mamati kua whakaterea e Auckland Transport mō te Wiki o te Reo Māori.
Ko tā te pukapuka poto nei, Te Rā Ngahau mō te Whānau i Runga Tereina, he kōrero mō tētahi whānau e haere ana i runga tereina atu i Pukekohe ki te Papa Tākaro o Eden, mō ngā NRL Auckland Nines. Koinei ngā rā e whakataetae ai ngā tīma 16 o te Australian National Rugby League, i tētahi taiopenga mō te rua rā.
He pakiwaituhi te āhua o ngā pikitia, ka mutu, nā ngā tamariki tonu o Te Raki o Pukekohe i hoahoa, me tā rātou kōrero anō i te wāhi ki tēnā, ki tēnā i tētahi pukapuka kōrero.
Nō nanahi nei i whakaterea ai, ka mutu, ka taea te haere mā te pae tukutuku o Auckland Transport ki te tiki atu i te taupānga mō te kore utu, i a i-tunes me Google Play. Ka taea ngā kōrero te pānui, te whakarongo atu rānei ki te reo Māori me te reo Pākehā. He āwhina hoki kei reira ki te taki i te kupu, ki te whakahua i te kupu, hei manaaki i te tuhi i te kupu.
E ai ki tētahi o ngā kaituhi, a Tui Gilling, te kaiwhakatakoto kaupapa here Māori, me te kaiwhakamāherehere hononga o Auckland Transport, "Ko ngā tamariki ngā tino whetū."
"Nā rātou tonu i hoahoa ngā kiripuaki me ngā kākahu, nō reira ko tāu i kite ai, nā rātou i hanga. Nō rātou hoki ngā reo o te pukapuka.
"He reo motuhake tō tēnā, tō tēnā. Ko te reo Māori tō rātou reo tuatahi, nō reira i māmā te wāhi ki te reo - ko te reo Ingarihi kē te wāhi uaua."
Nō Ms Gilling o Te Whānau a Apanui te whakaaro mō te pukapuka. He tama tāna, a Waiarikinui, kua 10 ōna tau. E kuraina ana te tamaiti nei i te akomanga rumaki i te Kura o Richmond Rd. Kua toa a Auckland Transport i ngā whakataetae o te Wiki o te Reo Māori i mua, mō ā rātou mahi pērā i te whakatū kapahaka i ana teihana tereina, me tā rātou hanga pānui whakaahua e whakaatu ana i ngā ingoa o ngā wāhi o te kōtuinga AT ki te reo Māori me te reo Ingarihi.
Hei tā Tui anō, "I hiahia mātou kia rerekē anō tā mātou i mahi ai mō Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori i tēnei tau. I hiahia mātou kia mau roa tā mātou i hanga ai."
Nā rāua ko Nīkora Wharerau o Kiwa Digital i tuhi te pukapuka, ko ngā pikitia nā Moanaroa Te Whata.
Ka kōwhiria ko te kura wehenga ngahuru 1 o Te Raki o Pukekohe hei hoa hanga i te pukapuka, ka mutu he Māori tētahi 155 o ngā tauira 183 o te kura.
Ka kōrerohia e ngā kiripuaki pakeke o te pukapuka ngā hītori o tēnā wāhi, o tēnā wāhi e hipa ana te tereina, ki ngā tamariki, ngā wāhi pērā i a Matukutūreia (McLaughlins Mountain), tētahi wāhi i nui te tākongakongahia, heoi, e mārama ana te kite atu he pā taua wāhi i mua. He wāhi tēnei e pātata ana ki te whare herehere i Wiri me Te Ara o Portage i Westfield, he wāhi i tōia ai e ngā tira haere o mua ō rātou waka, i ngā whenua i waenga o ngā whanga o Waitematā me Manukau.
E $25,000 te utu mō te hanga i te pukapuka, me te kī ake a Ms Gilling, ko te nuinga o tēnei i pau ki te taupānga. Hei tā Ms Gilling anō, ko tētahi wāhi o ngā mahi whānui a tana tīma, ko te whakauru haere i te tuakiri Māori o Tāmaki Makaurau ki ngā hanga whakaroto taha kawenga ā-waka.
Ko ētahi atu kaupapa o nā tata nei, ko ngā papa pānui hītori i te wāpu hou i Hobsonville, me tētahi arawhiti hou mō te tangata i Te Papa Whakamaharatanga Pakanga i Mt Roskill, Mt Roskill's War Memorial Park, kua hangaia nei tōna āhua ki te hīnaki waharua o nehe.
Mō te whāinga pae tawhiti, e hiahia ana ia kia reorua ngā pānui katoa o te kōtuinga kawenga ā-waka.
"Ka pai tonu mēnā ka reorua ngā pānui ō tō mātou kōtuinga ā tōna wā."
• Nā Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori i whakamāori (Translation provided by Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori).
Te Wiki o te Reo Maori
The New Zealand Herald, with Māori Television and the Māori Language Commission, is marking New Zealand's 40th Māori Language Week with Māori words and phrases for a different theme each day.
Nōnāianei (today): Haerere (travel)
Apōpō (tomorrow): Mahi (work)
Rāpare (Thursday): Kura (school)
Rāmere (Friday): Hākinakina (sport).
On TV today
Māori TV
• 7am-8am and 4pm-5pm: Children's shows dubbed into te reo.
• 3.30pm: Pukoro. Tama, Hine, Pēpi and the crew sing, act, dance, and explore through the universe in a Māori language show for pre-schoolers.
Te Reo Channel
• 7pm: Pukuhohe. Five-part half-hour game show made for Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori that puts two teams of three against each other in a war of wits and cunning.
How to learn the language
Courses
• Te Wananga o Aotearoa
www.twoa.ac.nz
• Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi
www.wananga.ac.nz
• Te Wananga o Raukawa
www.wananga.com
• Te Wananga Takiura
www.twt.ac.nz
• Te Ataarangi
www.teataarangi.org.nz
www.whichcoursewhere.co.nz
Online
• www.maorilanguage.net
Mobile phone app
• www.maori.ac.nz
TV
• www.maoritelevision.com
Other links/resources
• www.tetaurawhiri.govt.nz
