Kaho‘olawe: The True Story of an Island and Her People

Gr 2-3–There is a big story about a little island in the Pacific named Kaho‘olawe: it grew from volcanoes and turned into something like a paradise. More than a thousand years ago, Polynesian voyagers left their homes for the abundance of Kaho‘olawe, to live and worship there. More recently, the events of World War II, beginning with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, would change the island for decades. The U.S. military used Kaho‘olawe as target practice for years. The island has since been war-torn, military-torn, and polluted, while vermin that arrived on ships have eaten the eggs of creatures indigenous to Kaho‘olawe. Now Kaho‘olawe is slowly recovering, due to the activism and industry of the Indigenous people who still live there. Hurley’s text about Kaho‘olawe is poetic, while the illustrations are like mighty murals depicting the history of the island, with a palette that glows in color and recedes as the years unfold. As a natural history, as a story of endurance, as a newer perspective on the war in the Pacific, this book works for group sharing as well as in the classroom. Back matter includes a time line, resources, notes from the author and illustrator, and a glossary.