It’s a fact of the mar­ket­place that many pic­ture books with the unfor­tu­nate tim­ing of being released dur­ing the COVID pan­dem­ic were often not giv­en the atten­tion they deserved. And that’s real­ly too bad, because they mer­it space on our book­shelves. Punky Alo­ha, the debut pic­ture book by tal­ent­ed author/illustrator Shar Tuiʻa­soa, is one of these hid­den gems. Released in mid-2020 dur­ing the height of the pan­dem­ic, Punky is just the kind of delight­ful sto­ry kids — and their grown-ups — will love.

Some pic­ture books are clas­sics. They tell time­less tales that teach us about the world and our place in it. One such clas­sic also hap­pens to be one of the first Native Hawai­ian-themed books writ­ten in an authen­tic voice. Too Many Man­goes by Tam­my Paikai is a sto­ry based on the author’s child­hood expe­ri­ence. This gen­tle sto­ry is about two Hawai­ian kids, Kama and Nani, who love to climb the man­go tree at their grand­paʻs house. One day grand­pa asks them to pick some man­goes, but when he real­izes that the kids have picked way too many for their fam­i­ly to eat, he instructs them to give the man­goes away to their neigh­bors. Thus the adven­ture begins.