Thematic Reading List: Let’s go to Hawaii! National Hawaii Day is July 5th
Beautiful sandy beaches, luaus, and plenty of sun and culture provide a luxurious setting for these 10 stories with Hawaii as their settings. This list includes picture books for the younger readers and chapter books for older readers up to 16 years old
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To Hawaii, With Love By: Michael P. Spradlin Headstrong Rachel Buchanan and her friends sneak away from Blackthorn Academy and set out to find a mysterious artifact before it falls into the hands of her nemesis, Simon Blankenship, with a journey that takes them to the volcanic shores of Hawaii. |
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Georgia in Hawaii: when Georgia O’Keeffe painted what she pleased By: Amy Novesky In 1939, artist Georgia O’Keeffe creates nearly twenty paintings as she tours the Hawaiian Islands, but refuses to paint pictures of pineapples the way her sponsors tell her to. |
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Mikale of Hawaii By: Maya Angelou Mikale, a young Hawaiian boy, learns to swim with help from his uncle. |
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Calvin Coconut: hero of Hawaii By: Graham Salisbury When a hurricane causes the river near his Hawaiian home to flood, a boy named Calvin Coconut makes a daring rescue. |
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Froggy Goes to Hawaii By: Jonathan London When Froggy goes on vacation to Hawaii, he is too excited to pay much attention to his parents. |
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High Tide in Hawaii By: Mary Pope Osborne Jack and Annie travel in their Magic Tree House back to a Hawaiian island of long ago where they make friends, learn how to surf, and encounter a tsunami. |
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Ready! Set! Hawaii! By: Annie Bryant The BSG are thrilled to go along with Charlotte’s father on a Hawaiian cruise, but when Avery’s father shows up with his girlfriend and her obnoxious daughter, they discover a stowaway parrot, and Charlotte’s father gets sick. |
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Lydia and the Island Kingdom: a story based on the real life of Princess Liliuokalani of Hawaii By: Joan Holub Concerned that the increasing influence of Americans will make her island’s traditional ways disappear, seven-year-old Princess Lydia Liliuokalani commits traditional stories of the Hawaiian people to paper and presents them to King Kamehameha on Restoration Day in 1846. |
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Lord of the Deep By: Graham Salisbury Working for his stepfather on a charter fishing boat in Hawaii teaches thirteen-year-old Mikey about fishing, and about taking risks, making sacrifices, and facing some of life’s difficult choices. |
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Grandma calls me Beautiful By: Barbara M. Joosse A Hawaiian grandmother tells her granddaughter a favorite story about how much she loves her. Includes a glossary with definitions and explanations of Hawaiian words and customs. |