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‘Akamu
by Johnson Kahili IV
“Passion is your strength—impatience, your enemy.
Control both, and you may become the hero you long to be.”
Akamu has disobeyed the king’s orders, stolen his father’s outrigger canoe, and now floats alone in the middle of the moana, the deepest part of the ocean. If a hungry shark doesn’t smash his canoe to bits, then he’ll surely be put to death for defying the king and breaking kapu. But what if his fishing lure works—the one his father laughed at? What if he really can catch the biggest fish in the ocean? What if he’s capable of great things?
Written by Johnson Kahili IV, a Native Hawaiian middle school educator, ‘Akamu plunges readers into a world of towering cliffs, lush taro fields, and the powerful waves of the Pacific Ocean. Featuring over seventy Hawaiian words, and woven throughout with the lyrical words of the Kumulipo, ‘Akamu is a thrilling portrait of life in ancient Kaua‘i.
‘Akamu has been written with the goal of supporting Nā Hopena A‘o, the Hawaiian State Board of Education’s initiative to foster a strengthened sense of Responsibility, Excellence, Aloha, Total Wellbeing and Hawai‘i.
Advance Praise for ‘Akamu