Hawai’i Book List
The CBC Heritage Series explores stories that celebrate cultures from around the world and promotes an understanding of diverse languages, values, and communities.
The CBC has compiled a list of 60 books and resources that celebrate Hawai’i’s culture, heroic stories, deep symbolism, a vast range of beautiful storytelling, and kids being kids. So much has been lost in the fires of Lahaina, once the capital of the Kingdom of Hawai’i. Lives have been lost, as well as artifacts and memories of a proud and long history and culture. We’d like to help everyone across the country to keep these stories alive.
RESOURCES
Lee & Low Teachers’ Guides:
Arbordale Digital Review Copies (DRC) — These links will turn into pumpkins and disappear at the end of October 2023!
BOOK LIST
A is for Aloha: A Hawai’i Alphabet (Discover America State by State), by U’ilani Goldsberry; illus. Tammy Yee (Sleeping Bear Press) — Nonfiction, Picture Book, Concepts, Background / Culture, Diversity, ages 7-12.
Butterfly for a King: Saving Hawai’i’s Kamehameha Butterflies, by Cindy Trumbore; illus. Susan L. Roth (Lee & Low Books) — Nonfiction, Picture Book, Animals, Science, ages 7-12.
Dumpling Soup, by Jama Kim Rattigan; illus. Lillian Hsu-Flanders (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) — Fiction, Picture Book, Background / Culture, Holidays, ages 4-6.
Ho’onani: Hula Warrior, by Heather Gale; illus. Mika Song (Penguin Random House / Tundra Books) — Fiction, Picture Book, Background / Culture, LGBTQIA+, ages 4-6.
I Mea Aha ke Kai? / What Is the Kai for?, by Lilinoe Andrews; illus. Brook Kapūkuniahi Parker (Kamehameha Publishing) — Nonfiction, Picture Book, Science, ages 7-12.
Legend of the Gourd, written and illustrated by Caren Keʻala Loebel-Fried (Bishop Museum Press) — Fiction, Picture Book, Background / Culture, History, ages 7-12.
Mwa Machang / Hey Birdy, by Innocenta Sound-Kikku; illus. Lissette Yamase (Bess Press) — Fiction, Picture Book, Background / Culture, History, Concepts, ages 7-12.
Ohana Means Family, by Ilima Loomis; illus. Kenard Pak (Holiday House / Neal Porter Books) — Fiction, Picture Book, Background / Culture, Holidays, ages 4-6.
Punky Aloha, written and illustrated by Shar Tuiasoa (HarperCollins) — Fiction, Picture Book, Background / Culture, Mental/Physical Health, ages 4-6.
The Shark King (TOON Books Level 3), written and illustrated by R. Kikuo Johnson (Astra Publishing / TOON Books) — Fiction, Graphic Novel, Animals, Background / Culture, ages 4-6.
Snow Angel, Sand Angel, by Lois-Ann Yamanaka; illus. Ashley Lukashevsky (Penguin Random House / Make Me a World) — Fiction, Picture Book, Background / Culture, Science, ages 4-6.
Surfer of the Century: The Life of Duke Kahanamoku, by Ellie Crowe; illus. Richard Waldrep (Lee & Low Books) — Nonfiction, Picture Book, Biography / Memoir, ages 7-12.
A True Princess of Hawai’i, by Beth Greenway; illus. Tammy Yee (Arbordale Publishing) — Fiction, Picture Book, Historical Fiction, Spanish, Science, ages 4-6.
The Tsunami Quilt: Grandfather’s Story, by Anthony D. Fredericks; illus. Tammy Yee (Sleeping Bear Press) — Fiction, Picture Book, Historical Fiction, Background / Culture, ages 7-12.
Under the Blood-Red Sun, by Graham Salisbury (Penguin Random House / Ember) — Fiction, Prose, Historical Fiction, Background / Culture, Teen.
Let’s celebrate Hawai’i with these great stories!
Compiled by CBC intern Brooke Pisarsky. Email cbc.info@cbcbooks.org if you’d like the full 60-book title list spreadsheet.
