Hawaiian Archives - BookDragon

Kapaemahu [audio] by Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson [in School Library Journal]

04 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Bilingual, Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Hawaiian, Nonfiction, Pacific Islander, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW A solemn drumbeat welcomes listeners to discover the Kapaemahu, four ancient Tahitian healers of Hawaii. Neither male nor female, “they were mahu—a mixture of both in mind, heart, and spirit.” The people built a monument in gratitude, but the “four great boulders” were eventually...

Timeless Tales: APA Creators Draw on Myth and Folklore to Craft Personal, yet Universal Stories [in School Library Journal]

09 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Hawaiian, Japanese, Middle Grade Readers, Repost, Southeast Asian American, Translation, Vietnamese American, Young Adult Readers

Welcome to one of the more hope-filled, albeit cautious, Asian Pacific American (APA) Heritage Months in recent history. Plenty remains unsettled, challenging, and tragic, but a glass-half-full outlook extols the news that the world is finally, excitedly opening up from the last two-plus years of...

Kapaemahu by Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson, illustrated by Daniel Sousa [in Shelf Awareness]

21 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Bilingual, Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Hawaiian, Nonfiction, Pacific Islander, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Kapaemahu began as an animated short film that garnered international recognition. The award-winning production team of Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer, and Joe Wilson now sets their script onto the page, resulting in a spectacular picture book featuring stills from animation director Daniel Sousa's moving images....

No One Else by R. Kikuo Johnson [in Shelf Awareness]

29 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Hawaiian, Repost

In the 15 years since his 2006 graphic book debut with the award-winning Night Fisher, R. Kikuo Johnson's titles have been precious few even as his detailed art becomes increasingly recognizable on New Yorker covers. His third book, No One Else, might seem spare at...

Night Fisher by R. Kikuo Johnson [in Shelf Awareness]

14 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Hawaiian, Repost, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW Lauded illustrator R. Kikuo Johnson's potent, career-making debut, Night Fisher – which won the prestigious Russ Manning Newcomer Award at the 2006 Eisner Awards – returns in a handsome hardcover edition. Originally published in 2005, Night Fisher was Johnson's antidote to Hollywood's Hawaii, "the backdrop for...

The Night Marchers and Other Oceanian Tales edited by Kate Ashwin, Sloane Leong, and Kel McDonald [in Shelf Awareness]

19 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Filipina/o, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Hawaiian, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, Short Stories, Southeast Asian, Young Adult Readers

The Night Marchers and Other Oceanian Tales is the fourth installment in Iron Circus Comics' geographically specific Cautionary Fables & Fairytales series: African tales in The Girl Who Married a Skull, Asian stories in Tamamo the Fox Maiden, and European fare in The Nixie of the Mill-Pond. Volume four...

Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn [in Library Journal]

09 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, Repost

Hardworking Malia and Augie have plenty of love but can’t ever quite get ahead. In hopes of providing better opportunities for their three children, the pair relocate from Hawai'i to Oahu, but not before Augie insists the family share an adventure on a glassbottom boat...

American Like Me: Reflections on Life between Cultures by America Ferrera [in Booklist]

04 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Arab American, Audio, Black/African American, Chinese American, Filipina/o American, Haitian American, Hawaiian, Indian African, Korean American, Latina/o/x, Memoir, Nonfiction, Pan-Asian Pacific American, Puerto Rican, Repost, South Asian American, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW “I believe that culture shapes identity and defines possibility; that it teaches us who we are, what to believe, and how to dream.” Actor-activist America Ferrera in her editorial and authorial debut, highlights her distinct Honduran American identity and invites 31 others she “deeply...

Shadow Child by Rahna Reiko Rizzuto [in Library Journal]

24 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Hawaiian, Japanese, Japanese American, Repost

Dreading her twin sister Keiko's visit from Hawai'i, Hanako deliberately delays returning to her Manhattan apartment, but when she does, she finds Kei in the shower, unconscious from a mysterious attack. While Kei lies comatose in the hospital, Hana recalls their inseparable, even interchangeable childhoods...

How To Party with an Infant by Kaui Hart Hemmings

10 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Hawaiian, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

Mele, single mother of Ellie, joined the San Francisco Mother's Club (SFMC) to be matched with the perfect playgroup, something that never happened. Two years later, she's part of a rogue, "laughing, sh*t-talking, texting, even talking on the phone" fivesome that came together organically at...

Diamond Head by Cecily Wong

30 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Chinese American, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Hawaiian

If you're tuned to celluloid pop culture, you probably heard about the Aloha casting controversy earlier this year, most specifically that casting Emma Stone as a hapa Chinese Hawaiian Swedish character named Allison Ng was probably not the smartest (accurate? effective? politically correct?) choice. Depicting...

The Possibilities by Kaui Hart Hemmings

20 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Hawaiian, Nonethnic-specific

So as not to prolong the disappointment and annoyance, I'm going to try to keep this short. I actually skip posting about duds more often than not because the energy feels so wasted, but this title has history: it was attached to a 'how-many-of-these-have-you-read?"-query from a...

Sidewalk Dancing: A Novel in Stories by Letitia Moffitt

02 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chinese American, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Hawaiian, Short Stories

Two genres set my reading heart aflutter: novels in verse (highly ironic as I am an utter poetry dullard) and interlinked short storied novels. Hapa Hawaiian native Letitia Moffit’s Sidewalk Dancing falls in the latter category ...

The Spy Lover by Kiana Davenport

26 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chinese, Chinese American, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Hawaiian, Native American/First Nations/Indigenous Peoples

The Spy Lover lingered on the top of my must-read pile for months, mainly because I just needed a break from the death and destruction of war (seems to be my reading theme for too much of this year!). I wasn't wrong to be afraid: set during...

I Survived the Bombing of Pearl Harbor, 1941 by Lauren Tashis, illustrated by Scott Dawson

07 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Hawaiian, Japanese American, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific

Today – December 7, 2012 – is the 71st anniversary of the "date which will live in infamy," as named by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in describing the assault on the Pearl Harbor Naval Base and launching the United States into World War II. That the attackers...

Surfer of the Century: The Life of Duke Kahanamoku by Ellie Crowe, illustrated by Richard Waldrep [in Bloomsbury Review]

01 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Biography, Children/Picture Books, Hawaiian, Nonfiction, Repost

surfer-of-the-century An inspiring, poignant biography – just perfect for kids! – of the legendary surfer Duke Kahanamoku, who was also the fastest swimmer in the world for 16 years! In spite of his championships, Kahanamoku still faced...

The Queen of Tears by Chris McKinney [in Christian Science Monitor]

23 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Hawaiian, Korean, Korean American, Repost

queen-of-tears Once Korea's greatest movie star – dubbed 'the Queen of Tears' for her ability to cry convincingly on film – Soong Nan Lee arrives in Hawai‘i to face her three adult children. Her two eldest by...

Behold the Many: A Novel by Lois-Ann Yamanaka [in Bloomsbury Review]

01 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Hawaiian, Japanese American, Repost

behold-the-many How Yamanaka can tell some of the most harrowing stories with such lyrically beautiful language is astonishing. In her latest novel, Hawaii’s best known writer captures the story of three lost, tuberculosis-stricken sisters, sent away to...

Children of a Fireland: A Novel by Gary Pak [in AsianWeek]

07 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Hawaiian, Repost

Children of a Fireland In the small, conservative town of Kanewai, on Oahu, Hawaii, mischievous messages start mysteriously appearing on the walls of the old town movie theater slotted for demolition. Tensions rise as...

Da Word by Lee A. Tonouchi + Author Interview [in aMagazine: Inside Asian America]

01 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Author Interview/Profile, Fiction, Hawaiian, Repost, Short Stories, Young Adult Readers

Da Word Da Pidgin Guy: Lee Tonouchi reclaims his native language They call him “Da Pidgin Guerrilla.” Bekuz o’ da way he talk. And da fak dat he determined to keep duh langwage of da Locals alive....

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