Native Hawaiian author Malia Maunakea has done it again with book #2 in her Lei and the Legends series for middle graders. Her newest book, Lei and the Invisible Island, takes Lei and the gang on a sometimes wild, sometimes scary, but always fun and satisfying adventure. Lei and the Invisible Island begins where Lei and the Fire Goddess left off. Just when it seems that Kaipo, her best friend and ʻaumakua, is safe, his pendant goes missing. Now the race is on to save Kaipo from oblivion. The ever-resourceful Lei gathers her friends and takes the reader on an adventure that is ultimately indigenous at its roots. Yet todayʻs reader will find the story accessible because of its fresh, modern take on traditional legends.

I’ve missed you, my reading and writing friends! It’s been a little while since my last blog post, but that’s because I’ve been working on a couple of manuscripts. As Stephen King once said, When you’re writing, the book is boss. No kidding. My debut picture book, Kaho’olawe: The True Story of An Island and Her People (illustrated by Harinani Orme) is scheduled for Spring 2025. And look what I found in Publisher’s Weekly Spring 2025 Children’s Sneak Peak issue! 

Author Valerie Bollingʻs picture books are always great choices for kids. Her colorful, lyrical early readers and picture books focus on the joys and triumphs of childhood. Her first non-fiction picture book is a collection of biographical sketches, I See Color: An Affirmation and Celebration of Our Diverse World. The collection’s short yet engaging format makes it the perfect introduction of short biographies to children. I am delighted that our own Native Hawaiian activist and scholar, the late Dr. Haunani-Kay Trask is one of the book’s featured unsung heroes.