picture book

2025 was an amaz­ing year! I am so grateful!

This ban­ner year began with the launch par­ty at Native Books of my debut chil­dren’s book, Kaho’o­lawe: The True Sto­ry of an Island and Her Peo­ple. The book was a dream come true and three years in the mak­ing. Maha­lo to own­er Maile Mey­er and her incred­i­ble staff for host­ing us! 

Then came the won­der­ful news that the book was a Junior Library Guild Gold Stan­dard selec­tion! By the end of the first quar­ter, Kaho’o­lawe had earned starred reviews by the School Library Jour­nal and by Kirkus.

I’m always up to talk about the book, and so I did in a flur­ry of inter­views and posts dur­ing the sum­mer and fall. Even more fun was attend­ing sev­er­al book events with the book’s tal­ent­ed illus­tra­tor, Hari­nani Orme.

We end­ed the year in the best way imag­in­able — Kaho’o­lawe was hon­ored on FIVE nation­al Best of 2025 lists:

• NCTE Orbis Pic­tus Rec­om­mend­ed Books
• New York Pub­lic Library Best Books
• School Library Jour­nal Best Non­fic­tion Ele­men­tary Books 
• Bet­sy Bird 31 Lists, 2025 Amer­i­can His­to­ry Books for Kids 
• Cen­ter for the Study of Mul­ti­cul­tur­al Chil­dren’s Lit­er­a­ture Best Books

Each recog­ni­tion is such an hon­or, and I am so very grate­ful to each of these orga­ni­za­tions and to the team at Mill­brook Press/Lerner!

Oh, yeah, and I worked on oth­er writ­ing projects, too.

• I spent most of the year work­ing on a man­u­script for a non­fic­tion mid­dle grade his­to­ry ten­ta­tive­ly titled Mai Poina, about the 1899–1900 plague and fires at Hon­olu­lu’s Chi­na­town. When I turned it in a week before its due date, I cel­e­brat­ed by doing cart­wheels in my head! It’s due to release in 2027.
• My next pic­ture book, At the Water’s Edge, a biog­ra­phy about the esteemed Native Hawai­ian eth­nob­otanist, Dr. Isabel­la Aiona Abbott, was announced at Pub­lish­er’s Week­ly. The illus­tra­tor is up-and-com­ing local Hawai’i artist Remi Jose.
• Anoth­er quick project this sum­mer includ­ed writ­ing two Lit­tle Gold­en Books for Disney/Random House, which I think will come out in June 2, 2026.
• Per­haps most chal­leng­ing of all, I con­tribut­ing to a poet­ry anthol­o­gy spear­head­ed by author Keila Daw­son, writ­ing about the forced annex­a­tion of the Hawai­ian Islands.
• I squeezed in a four-week course on writ­ing nov­els in verse at High­lights.

I did­n’t do a lot of inter­views and book reviews on my blog this year, but that’s because I had my hands full with the newest edi­tions to our fam­i­ly, grand­son Kea­ka and grand­daugh­ter Lālani­hōkū, born in August and October.

Allow me to end the year by thank­ing those won­der­ful peo­ple who helped guide my lit­er­ary jour­ney this year.

• My agent extra­or­di­naire, James McGowan of Book­Ends, A Lit­er­ary Agency
• My dream edi­tor, Car­ol Hinz at Lerner
• Vic­ki Palmquist (my web guru) and Steve Palmquist (pro­gram­mer and all-around trou­bleshoot­er) at Wind­ing Oak

Thank you for fol­low­ing my blog and fol­low­ing me on Face­book and on Insta­gram. I send all my alo­ha to you! See you in 2026!

Image cour­tesy of Hari­nani Orme. 

I love Bet­sy Bird’s 31 Lists blog. So imag­ine my delight that Kaho’o­lawe: The True Sto­ry of an Island and Her Peo­ple is includ­ed in her 2025 Amer­i­can His­to­ry list! So grateful!

 

All pro­ceeds ben­e­fit the Pro­tect Kaho’o­lawe ‘Ohana. Maha­lo nui to Car­ol Hinz and the team at Millbrook/Lerner!

What start­ed out as a bit scary turned out to be such fun! I’d nev­er been inter­viewed for pub­lic radio before, so I was nervous. 

Edi­tor Cather­ine Cluett Pactol made me feel right at home. 

Hon­est­ly, I can talk about the book all day, and I think I did! 

Because of time and space lim­i­ta­tions, she could­n’t include every­thing we’d talked about. She did a great job in focus­ing on the best parts for the interview.

BUT what was left out was my heart­felt alo­ha for the book’s won­der­ful illus­tra­tor, Hari­nani Orme. Hari­nani’s art is rich­ly tex­tured and vivid­ly col­or­ful and based on tons of research. She is amaz­ing, and I am grate­ful to call her my friend.

Cather­ine asked for a pho­to of me with the book. Any­one who knows me knows I don’t like being pho­tographed, but duty called! So out to our lanai I went with my hus­band, Tim, in tow. 

Maha­lo to Hawai’i Pub­lic Radio for fea­tur­ing Kaho’o­lawe: The True Sto­ry of an Island and Her Peo­ple! Read the arti­cle and lis­ten to the inter­view here.

All pro­ceeds ben­e­fit the Pro­tect Kaho’o­lawe ‘Ohana. Maha­lo nui to Car­ol Hinz and the team at Millbrook/Lerner!

I believe that all voic­es deserve to be heard. Maha­lo to the Cen­ter for the Study of Mul­ti­cul­tur­al Chil­dren’s Lit­er­a­ture Best Books of 2025 List for includ­ing Kaho’o­lawe: The True Sto­ry of an Island and Her People!

 

All pro­ceeds ben­e­fit the Pro­tect Kaho’o­lawe ‘Ohana. Maha­lo nui to Car­ol Hinz and the team at Millbrook/Lerner!

I am so grate­ful that Kaho’o­lawe: The Sto­ry of an Island and Her Peo­ple is an NCTE Orbis Pic­tus Rec­om­mend­ed Book! Maha­lo nui to the NCTE for this honor!

All pro­ceeds ben­e­fit the Pro­tect Kaho’o­lawe ‘Ohana. Maha­lo nui to Car­ol Hinz and the team at Millbrook/Lerner!

We’re so excit­ed that KAHO’OLAWE: THE TRUE STORY OF AN ISLAND AND HER PEOPLE is on the New York Pub­lic Library Best Books 2025 List for Chil­dren’s Nonfiction! 

 

All pro­ceeds ben­e­fit the Pro­tect Kaho’o­lawe ‘Ohana. Maha­lo nui to Car­ol Hinz and the team at Millbrook/Lerner!

So very grate­ful that KAHO’OLAWE: THE TRUE STORY OF AN ISLAND AND HER PEOPLE is on the School Library Jour­nal’s Best Books 2025 List for Non­fic­tion Ele­men­tary.

 

 

All pro­ceeds ben­e­fit the Pro­tect Kaho’o­lawe ‘Ohana. Maha­lo nui to Car­ol Hinz and the team at Millbrook/Lerner!