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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, October 15, 2005

'Creature' by, for keiki in Hawaiian, English

By Wanda Adams
Assistant Features Editor

"I AM A CREATURE OF THE TIDES: WHAT AM I?/HE I'A WAU: PEHEA KO'U 'ANO?" BY KYNASTON KAIKA LINDSEY; KAMEHAMEHA SCHOOLS PRESS, HARDBACK, $15.95; KSPRESS.KSBE.EDU

New from Kamehameha Schools Press is the second in a new series called Pauahi Readers, developed by young people and designed for young readers who enjoy picture books — preschool through elementary age.

This one, about animals that live in tidal areas, was written and illustrated by a high school junior at Kanu o ka 'Aina New Century Public Charter School in Waimea on the Kohala Coast of the Big Island. Students in the K-12 school study in both Hawaiian and English, and this book is written in both languages. Start from one direction for English; the other, Hawaiian.

This is far from the first such project for Kanu o ka 'Aina students; the school is committed to real-world, hands-on learning and, among other projects, student help generate much-needed Hawaiian language educational materials.

The sophisticated, somewhat abstract paintings take readers through the world of urchins, eels, sea cucumbers and limpets and offer the opportunity to learn the names of these creatures in Hawaiian, as well as giving a sense of Hawaiian language sentence construction and how it differs from English.