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Kamalani Hurley Native Hawaiian author
Kamalani Hurley Native Hawaiian author
Kamalani Hurley Native Hawaiian author

Books

    

writ­ten by Kamalani Hur­ley
illus­trat­ed by Hari­nani Orme
Mill­brook Press, 4 Feb­ru­ary 2025
ISBN 979–8765605011
ages 7 and older

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Ama­zon

Kaho’olawe

The True Story of an Island and Her People

In the mid­dle of the great Pacif­ic Ocean is a lit­tle island. Her name is Kanaloa Kaho‘olawe.

Dis­cov­er the sto­ry of an island sacred to Native Hawai­ians. Begin­ning with her birth in a vol­canic erup­tion, Kaho‘olawe thrives sur­round­ed by ani­mals on land and in the sea. When Poly­ne­sian voy­agers arrive and begin to raise their fam­i­lies there, the island is hap­py. As the years pass, inva­sive goats dev­as­tate the ecosys­tem, and dur­ing World War II and the decades that fol­low, the US mil­i­tary claims the island for tar­get prac­tice. Kaho‘olawe is hurt. Yet activists nev­er give up on the island, and they final­ly suc­ceed in reclaim­ing her.

Kaho‘olawe endures.

Author Kamalani Hur­ley and illus­tra­tor Hari­nani Orme present the remark­able sto­ry of the small­est Hawai­ian island, encom­pass­ing loss and era­sure, sac­ri­fice and ded­i­ca­tion, and ulti­mate­ly restora­tion, high­light­ing hope, resilience, and alo­ha ‘āina (deep love of the land).

Awards and Recognition

  • Junior Library Guild Gold Standard

Resources

Reviews

  A stun­ning­ly beau­ti­ful book that tells the sto­ry of destruc­tion, dev­as­ta­tion, and resilience, of both the human and nat­ur­al world. Kaho‘olawe is a small island in the Pacif­ic that has sur­vived a string of man­made dis­as­ters. With the help of sci­ence and the care of ded­i­cat­ed humans, the island is recov­er­ing. From import­ed inva­sive species, to war and envi­ron­men­tal degra­da­tion, Kaho‘olawe has faced a range of threats to its very sur­vival. A deep love and ded­i­ca­tion to the island’s his­to­ry and cul­ture com­pelled activists and vol­un­teers to invest time and ener­gy to rebuild and pro­tect the island’s ecosys­tem. The art­work tells the sto­ry in dra­mat­ic, com­pelling, and beau­ti­ful ways. Togeth­er, text and art will engage read­ers from the first page. Ani­mal lovers will lose them­selves in the fas­ci­nat­ing depic­tions of the island’s wildlife, and stu­dents of his­to­ry will be enthralled with the role the island played in WWII and sub­se­quent decades. VERDICT Suit­ed for class­rooms and browsers, this is an excel­lent choice across the cur­ric­u­la and a win­ner across the board. (Dar­by Wal­lace, School Library Jour­nal, starred review)

  The his­to­ry of the small­est of Hawai‘i’s eight main islands — and the activists who worked tire­less­ly to safe­guard it.

In an author’s note, Hur­ley explains that, like many Native Hawai­ians, she was taught that Kahoʻo­lawe was mere­ly a “bar­ren rock.” Noth­ing could be fur­ther from the truth. Though Kahoʻo­lawe isn’t “as lush as the oth­er Hawai­ian islands,” wildlife thrives here, as did the Poly­ne­sian wayfind­ers who set­tled here years ago. But the arrival of new­com­ers who often brought with them inva­sive species — goats brought by Capt. George Van­cou­ver in 1793, for instance — dis­rupt­ed the envi­ron­ment. When World War II began, the U.S. mil­i­tary took over Kahoʻo­lawe for tar­get prac­tice; peo­ple were kept away. Hawai­ian res­i­dents were told that the island was suit­able only for mil­i­tary test­ing, but in the 1970s, activists start­ed to advo­cate for its pro­tec­tion, guid­ed by the prin­ci­ple of alo­ha ʻāi­na, or “deep love of the land.” In 1993, the state of Hawai‘i assumed con­trol of the island. Hurley’s robust prose paints a vivid por­trait, with each page end­ing in a brief state­ment from the island’s point of view. Side­bars offer more in-depth infor­ma­tion about island ecol­o­gy and his­to­ry, while Orme’s ener­getic, painter­ly illus­tra­tions fill the page with strik­ing­ly rich tex­tures. Togeth­er, text and art offer a pow­er­ful coun­ternar­ra­tive to mis­con­cep­tions about the island: “The peo­ple love Kahoʻo­lawe. And Kahoʻo­lawe loves the people.”

An incred­i­ble, bril­liant­ly told sto­ry of per­sis­tence, advo­ca­cy, and love. (list of Hawai­ian say­ings, author’s and illustrator’s notes, pho­tographs, time­line, glos­sary, ways to help, resources, select­ed ref­er­ences)  (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

While the Big Island, Maui, and Oahu are the Hawai­ian Islands that receive the most atten­tion, this beau­ti­ful­ly illus­trat­ed pic­ture book intro­duces the small­est and only unin­hab­it­ed island, Kaho’olawe. Paint­ed illus­tra­tions with bold col­ors, thick brush­strokes, and rich tex­tures enhance three lay­ers of text. Short, lyri­cal pas­sages trace the island’s his­to­ry, from its vol­canic cre­ation, thriv­ing wildlife, and ear­ly Poly­ne­sian vis­i­tors to exam­in­ing the U.S. mil­i­tary occu­pa­tion and tar­get prac­tice fol­low­ing the bomb­ing of Pearl Har­bor, the ensu­ing des­o­la­tion, and the even­tu­al preser­va­tion projects to restore the island’s nat­ur­al resources. Box­es with straight­for­ward text in a small­er font offer more details about his­toric events, includ­ing activists who peace­ful­ly occu­pied the island to draw atten­tion to its mil­i­tary inva­sion, and grass­roots efforts to grow native plants and stop ero­sion. Final­ly, state­ments about the island in a large, col­or­ful font, such as “Kaho’olawe endures,” hon­or this land, its peo­ple, and their cul­ture. Con­clud­ing author and illus­tra­tor notes, pho­tographs, a time line, and oth­er back mat­ter fur­ther rec­og­nize the social jus­tice and envi­ron­men­tal activism to save Kaho’olawe. (Angela Leep­er, Book­list)