If you have ever worked with me, you know that I am in favor of independent reading during class. I started every period with 10 minutes of what I called Focused Reading. Students read whatever they wanted. Graphic novels, audiobooks, fantasy, murder mystery—it was all fair game. Sometimes I even provided sports or car magazines to encourage my more reluctant readers. While students read, I conferenced with them about their reading lives. Or I read my own book, modeling authentic, engaged reading. It's part of why I do what I do now—help teachers build diverse and engaging classroom libraries SO THAT they can support a vibrant reading culture in their room. If you want to chat about independent reading in your classroom, let me know. I love those conversations.

High school teachers: this week's book is for your students. I hope you love it.

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Title: Hula​

Author: Jasmin 'Iolani Hakes

Genre: Realistic fiction

Age range: 13+ (target age: 16-20)

Summary: Hi'i, daughter of Laka, is proud to be part of the Naupaka family, a family with a deep interconnected legacy with hula and Hilo, Hawaii. But Hi'i, with her red hair, freckles, and pale skin, does not look like her mother or legendary grandmother and Laka won't reveal her father's identity. While Hi'i feels deeply connected to her land and culture (especially hula), her physical features cause a rift in her family. But the rift is less about her family and more about Hawaii's relationship with the United States government—how to ensure that the land, air, and water continue to nurture the people who have lived here forever? This is a story of mothers and daughters just as much as it's a story of Hawaii's history and ongoing struggle to remain at home in its land.

Why it's an engaging addition to your classroom library:

First and foremost, representation. Hula is a beautiful depiction of Hawaiian culture, with stories of myths and history woven into the narrative. It's an ode to the land, both as a stunning landscape as well as a provider of sustenance and harmony. Your Native Hawaiian (and likely Polynesian) students will see food, traditions, and dialects transferred from their homes to this book's pages.

As I was reading it, Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon kept coming to mind. They're both sweeping, multi-generational narratives that somehow capture a whole era of history by focusing on the love and conflicts within one family. So I think Hula can stand alongside Song of Solomon as a whole class novel study. Not to replace it but to be read in addition to it. Students who need a challenge can read both while others just read one. Or, read both as a whole class for a comparative literature unit.

How much Hawaiian history is taught in schools outside of Hawaii? If you find yourself going "eek, not much" then this book can be an intro, a teaser. Think about handing it to a student before they travel to Maui or O'ahu with their families—their trip will feel a bit different the more they see it as a place and not a destination.

Learn more:

Nothing compares to hearing an author talk about their book—their process, their struggles, their hopes. This article offers insight on what it was like for Hakes to write Hula.​

If the above article whets your appetite, definitely listen to Hakes on episode 841 of the Otherppl podcast. She's upfront in discussing her position of writing this novel even though she herself is not Native Hawaiian.

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Literacy Love Notes:

👩‍🏫 If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm a big fan of Pernille Ripp and her middle school focused literacy work. This week she has a banger post on what the research has to say about independent reading. Spoiler: The research likes it.

💭 Gearing up for a Socratic Seminar? I have 3 resources that I loved using with my students so I tidied them up and put them on TPT: Discussion Tracker, Discussion Prep Graphic Organizer, and (free) Bloom's Taxonomy Question Stems.

Have a good one and learn everything you can,

Hannah

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