picture book

Talk about a dream come true. KAHO’OLAWE: THE TRUE STORY OF AN ISLAND AND HER PEOPLE is a fea­tured book at Barnes & Noble.

B&N is the only major book­seller on Oʻahu, so being in their win­dow is very cool. Amaz­ing illus­tra­tor Hari­nani Orme and I had fun at the book read­ing and sign­ing event. But we always have fun when we’re togeth­er. It’s so rare for both author and illus­tra­tor to appear togeth­er. Talk about special!

One lit­tle boy about 7 or 8 years old, asked, 

Is this is real story?

Yes, I replied. the sto­ry of Kahoʻo­lawe is very real.

We hand­ed out book­marks from the pub­lish­er and col­or­ing pages Hari­nani made to the kids, then stayed to talk sto­ry with the grownups for a bit.

Maha­lo to every­one who stopped by and to the good folks at Barnes & Noble for host­ing us!

Pho­to cred­it: Hari­nani Orme

I thrilled to share that my pic­ture book biog­ra­phy, AT THE WATER’S EDGE, about the amaz­ing Native Hawai­ian sea­weed sci­en­tist Dr. Isabel­la Aiona Abbott, has been offi­cial­ly announced at Pub­lish­erʻs Week­ly!

 

Dr. Abbot­t’s sto­ry is fas­ci­nat­ing. She was first Native Hawai­ian to earn a PhD and the first woman of col­or pro­fes­sor at Stan­ford Uni­ver­si­ty’s Hop­kins Marine Sta­tion. While at Hop­kins, she dis­cov­ered over 200 species of sea­weed and wrote sem­i­nal books and papers sci­en­tists use today. After retir­ing as pro­fes­sor emeri­ta from Stan­ford, Dr. Abbott returned home to Hawai’i where she bridged Native Hawai­ian sci­ence with West­ern approach­es. Not sur­pris­ing­ly, her stu­dents are today’s lead­ers in marine biol­o­gy and botany.

Due to be released in Spring 2027 by Lern­er Pub­lish­ing, the book will be illus­trat­ed by tal­ent­ed illus­tra­tor Remi Jose. 

Maha­lo nui …

• to Dr. Abbot­t’s daugh­ter Annie Abbott Foer­ster, to her col­leagues Dr. Celia Smith and Dr. Puakea Nogelmeier, to her grad­u­ate teach­ing assis­tant Kim Pay­ton, and to the many stu­dents who shared their hal­i’a alo­ha — their fond mem­o­ries — with me
• to my dream edi­tor and pub­lish­er, Car­ol Hinz
• to my agent extra­or­di­naire James McGowan

Pho­to cred­it: Rok­ki Midro

Maha­lo ke Akua! After a long career teach­ing writ­ing (which I real­ly loved), I thrilled beyond words that my debut pic­ture book, KAHOʻOLAWE, has been offi­cial­ly announced at Pub­lish­erʻs Week­ly!

 

Kahoʻolawe is a sto­ry of loss and era­sure, of sac­ri­fice and ded­i­ca­tion, and, ulti­mate­ly, of restora­tion and resilience. Writ­ten and illus­trat­ed by Native Hawai­ians Kamalani Hur­ley and Hari­nani Orme, this chil­drenʻs pic­ture book is the sto­ry of alo­ha ʻāi­na — a deep love of the land — and explores what hap­pened to Kahoʻo­lawe and how she is a bea­con of hope for the Native Hawai­ian peo­ple and for peo­ple every­where who fight against social and envi­ron­men­tal injustice. 

Maha­lo nui …

• to the lead­ers of the Pro­tect Kaho’o­lawe ‘Ohana for their exper­tise and sup­port of this project. Their ded­i­ca­tion to Kahoʻo­lawe and to the Hawai­ian peo­ple con­tin­ues to inspire. 
• to edi­tor and pub­lish­er, Car­ol Hinz, whose exper­tise and patience we are count­ing on to get the book into the world.
• to my agent James McGowan, who always knew this sto­ry need­ed to be told.

 

image cred­it: Vic­ki Palmquist — Wind­ing Oak