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$8.39The Story
Fans of The Poet X will fall for this powerful, romantic debut novel-in-verse about a Native Hawaiian girl's fight to find belonging in a fracturing family, sharing a message of love with resounding emotional truth.
Aouli Elizabeth Smith is adrift: unheard at home and an unbeliever at church, fighting her sister and losing her best friend. Overflowing with feeling, she pours her secrets and herself into her song journal when the world threatens to sweep her away. The one place she feels tied down to earth is at her Aunty Ehu's house. Those joyous Saturdays with her extended Native Hawaiian community living in Western Washington are precious to her. Under the maple trees, the fragments of her life fit together, if only for an afternoon.
Then, an unspeakable truth about her father shatters this one perfect corner of her life.
As Aouli's world constricts around what others wish she could be, language fails her. But when a new boy, Nalu, turns up with eyes that seem to pierce right into her soul, maybe it's love that can give her the words to set herself free.
Author: Kauakanilehua Mahoe Adams
Publisher: Heartdrum
Published: 05/19/2026
Pages: 464
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 8.48h x 5.84w x 1.41d
ISBN: 9780063417953
Audience: Young Adult
Review Citation(s):
School Library Journal 03/20/2026 pg. 1
Publishers Weekly 02/23/2026
Kirkus Reviews 03/01/2026
Shelf Awareness 01/01/0001
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 05/01/2026
Booklist 05/01/2026
About the Author
Adams, Kauakanilehua Mahoe: -
KAUAKANILEHUA MĀHOE ADAMS is a Kanaka Maoli/Native Hawaiian, Asian, and white author and poet originally from Seattle, Washington. Today, Kaua lives in sunny southern California on a bird sanctuary with her partner, where she spends her time writing, reading, daydreaming, dancing hula, and bending to her dogs' every wish and whim. An Expanse of Blue is her debut novel.
Description
Fans of The Poet X will fall for this powerful, romantic debut novel-in-verse about a Native Hawaiian girl's fight to find belonging in a fracturing family, sharing a message of love with resounding emotional truth.
Aouli Elizabeth Smith is adrift: unheard at home and an unbeliever at church, fighting her sister and losing her best friend. Overflowing with feeling, she pours her secrets and herself into her song journal when the world threatens to sweep her away. The one place she feels tied down to earth is at her Aunty Ehu's house. Those joyous Saturdays with her extended Native Hawaiian community living in Western Washington are precious to her. Under the maple trees, the fragments of her life fit together, if only for an afternoon.
Then, an unspeakable truth about her father shatters this one perfect corner of her life.
As Aouli's world constricts around what others wish she could be, language fails her. But when a new boy, Nalu, turns up with eyes that seem to pierce right into her soul, maybe it's love that can give her the words to set herself free.
Author: Kauakanilehua Mahoe Adams
Publisher: Heartdrum
Published: 05/19/2026
Pages: 464
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 8.48h x 5.84w x 1.41d
ISBN: 9780063417953
Audience: Young Adult
Review Citation(s):
School Library Journal 03/20/2026 pg. 1
Publishers Weekly 02/23/2026
Kirkus Reviews 03/01/2026
Shelf Awareness 01/01/0001
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 05/01/2026
Booklist 05/01/2026
About the Author
Adams, Kauakanilehua Mahoe: -
KAUAKANILEHUA MĀHOE ADAMS is a Kanaka Maoli/Native Hawaiian, Asian, and white author and poet originally from Seattle, Washington. Today, Kaua lives in sunny southern California on a bird sanctuary with her partner, where she spends her time writing, reading, daydreaming, dancing hula, and bending to her dogs' every wish and whim. An Expanse of Blue is her debut novel.
