All of the dishes are easy to prepare as well as tasty. Kids especially love the main courses and appetizers. Spam is practically a staple diet of the locals in Hawaii, and you will find "spam musubi", soyu spam, etc. at many picnics and beach outings. Unbelievably, there are also very elegant dinners in this book, that you would not even think could be made with Spam!

When I first moved away from Hawaii in 1995, my grandmother gave me this book to take along with me to Japan. In Japan, the SPAM there still has the "key" to open the cans. Anyway, I used several of the recipes such as: "SPAM MUSUBI", "Korean Style SPAM", and "Sato Shoyu SPAM" and introduced them to my Japanese colleagues who immediately fell in love with SPAM. I told my Japanese colleagues to visit 7-11 in Hawaii to see that SPAM MUSUBI is even sold there!! Now I live in Indiana where SPAM is well, not as popular as it is back in Hawaii. I have brought SPAM MUSUBI to work where my new colleagues have frowned in disbelievement, but after they tried it, they did not have a bad thing to say about this ingenious SPAM creation. Ms. Kondo Corum's book is well written and provides a glossary of unfamiliar terms for the non-Hawaii person. Besides SPAM, she also covers some other local island favorites such as: vienna sausages, corned beef, and sardines. The recipes and instructions are easy to read and the meals are easy to prepare. The artwork adds to the appeal of the recipes. If you love SPAM and would like to get recipes that you would normally not find here in the 48 states, this is your book!

Tom Blake is excellent... a must for all those who have made the journey, or have just dreamed about it

This is an excellent, even amazing book, considering that Tom Blake was from Northern Wisconsin. I wish there was more about Wisconsin; I found only one reference. Otherwise, the book has a good history of surfing by Hawaiians, native and not, and is interesting reading.

Yeahh... I havent really seen this calender in person but im sure its a nice calender. I am Hirants current employer, so buy this calender even though its not even in stock.

A great wall calendar, I visited Hawaii many times, this gives me the best gift idea, with the full history of our beautiful islands.......wonderful idea, never done before....it was the best gift for my kids.....

As a fellow writer with a passion for the Molokai and Father Damien story, I was impressed with the research and accuracy of Lisa's story. Hawaii's story of leprosy is a deeply moving one and Lisa has improved our world by informing young readers. I loved it.

This was an excellent book. It vividly brings to life what it must have been like to have had leprosy and to have lived in this remote and lawless colony. The author doesn't ever flinch from describing the suffering and conditions of the colony, but the focus of the book is on Liliha's growth and maturation as a person. Liliha begins the book as a frightened and angry child, scheming to get her mother to come rescue her. She suffers in the colony, and does what she has to to survive. But she grows beyond her childishness and selfishness, and accepts her disease and her exile. She learns to rely on and care for her friends, and to become a responsible and caring person in return. The book is fascinating in its details of such a remote and difficult existance, while the characters and plot are deeply absorbing.

This is the true story of a young Hawaiian girl with type 2 Spinal Muscular Atrophy, told by her kindergarten through second grade teacher. It isn't really about her disablity - SMA - it's the story of Jamie's education. Jamie becomes fascinated with reading and creative writing, and teaches many of her mainstream classmates to appreciate books. In spite of her disability, she becomes a leader and mentor to her friends. Jamie dies at the age of 8 in 1994, due to recurrent bouts of pneumonia after spinal surgery.

This book is not particularly accurate from a medical point of view (e.g. "Jamie hd spinal muscular atrophy, a form of muscular dystrophy," page 3) but it might be a very useful resource to have available for your young child's teacher. Since Jamie is physically weak and academically strong, reading this story may give a teacher some idea of what to expect of a child with SMA. There are also many excerpts from Jamie's writings included which clearly communicate her feelings and thoughts. (I am the parent of a child with the same disease.)

Jamie, a plucky kindergartener with SMA (spinal muscular atrophy) is clearly the teacher in her kindergarten class. Bright and beautiful, this little girl knows how to compute math problems and can read. She imparts her academic knowledge to her classmates and they, in turn, share some of the more usual aspects of kindergarten life with Jamie. Physically unable to compete, she encourages her peers to join her in more cerebral activities.

This is a lovely story of how a little child shall lead. This delightful little girl captivates the reader from the start. She is so adorable, so verbally precocious and so interesting that one loves her immediately. Her death at age 8 in 1994 was a major loss. Although most reviewers/readers did not know Jamie personally, her death was truly a painful loss.

"Kailouie," the tale of a small reef fish, uses many Hawaiian phrases to tell an engaging story for young armchair travelers. The illustrations depict an underwater world that is vivid, colorful, and exciting, suggesting to children the glories of seaside exploration. The book has an environmental message and teaches a vocabulary of Hawaiian words that are delicious to say.

This book has adventure and excitement around every reef! Of all the monsters I would have to say that the snorkel monster is the cutest in town. Very witty book. I enjoyed reading it to my daughter and now she enjoys reading it to me! Excellent book to travel with esspecially to Hawaii. Gotta get one!

A restless VietNam vet PI, a beautiful mixed-blood Hawaiian woman, slimeball corporations, spiritual but passive islanders, the Goddess Pele: this is potentially as dangerous ground as a fresh lava flow. Fortunately, Houston is a sufficiently subtle author to create credible and sympathetic characters, provide suspense and surprise, and keep the reader totally engaged. Not as strong as Kiana Davenport's magnicent Shark Dialogues, but a very entertaning page turner with a good environmental message.

Before Michener, Hawai'i was an open-season setting for every visitor who made an occupation of putting pen to paper. Since the local literary renaissance, built in part on the objections of people who live in Hawai'i to Michener's failure to "get it right," few outsiders have stood up to challenge the likes of Darrell Lum, Lois-Ann Yamanaka, and -- most recently -- Chris McKinney. The Last Paradise is less a challenge to those talented local writers than a contribution to the widening pool of literature that celebrates an authentic Island experience without unduly demonizing or romanticizing. But romantic it is, in both the narrow, amorous sense and in the sense that inspires wonder at the natural and spritual forces that pervade human life, whether we pay homage to them or not. Jim Houston is not a Hawai'i-based writer, but he has spent considerable time here and his acculturation seems as complete as an outsider's can be. The writing is lyrically beautiful and authentic-feeling, and the characters Travis Doyle and Evangeline "Angel" Sakai are three-dimensional and vital as their mingling fluids. This is a good read, whether you grew up in Hawai'i like Angel or on the West Coast like Travis; it's a good read for anybody who likes to ponder things that count, such as how long this earth will continue to sustain human beings regardless of what we make of it or ourselves.

As a online pal of mine pointed out to me recently, many people who have visited Hawaii seem to be on a quest to find 'the real Hawaii' - unspoiled by American influence and modern capitalism. This book provides a very unique insight into the ancient Hawaiian culture. Interestingly enough, many of the stories - including the Hawaiian creation myth - bear a strong resemblance to that of other cultures. The legends compiled here are poetic and mystical, reading like the script to an anime movie. My personal favorite was 'The Iron Knife,' which recounts the story of the first metal weapon introduced to the islands. 'Umi, The Peasant Prince of Hawaii' is another one that stands out. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the book, however, lies in the fact that each ot the stories are just as based in fact as they are in fiction. I highly recommend this book to anyone with even a wanning interest in the islands. The only drawbacks I see is that to someone not familiar with the Hawaiian language, keeping some of the character names in line may take a bit of effort; and at times, the attention to small details are bordering on tedious. A great read, nonetheless.

Originally published in 1888, The Legends And Myths of Hawaii by King David Kalakaua is probably the best book currently available on Hawaiian folklore, and due to its authentic pedigree, likely to be for some time. Written with a certain amount of historical bias and thus subjectivity, only a thoroughly objective, enthusiastic and well-conceived scholarly overview will be able to equal it.

Though the actual Christian missionaries were to come later, in the early 19th century, and under the rule of an inappropriate king, a band of political and religious leaders of the only-recently united Hawaiian islands formed a conspiracy with the intent of overthrowing the centuries-old native Hawaiian religion and tabu traditions. The conspirators had recently witnessed the arrival of foreigner merchants and sailors to the islands, white men who clearly acted as they pleased and defied tabu without punishment from the native gods. The weak young king, already something of a hedonist, if an innocent one, was, under the influence of alcohol, persuaded by the conspirators to join them in a public display of tabu defiance. Sadly, the conspirators were successful, and on that day the tabu system, gods, and idols of the Hawaiian people officially went into the fire for the first and last time.

Author Kalakaua, a direct descendant of the royal line and indeed, descended from even some of the conspirators, was famous during his reign for attempting to reverse this cultural dissolution and return the full ancient majesty of the native Hawaiian traditions back to prominence among his people. Legends And Myths Of Hawaii was part of his effort, and as such has an important and dignified history. Throughout the volume, the reader can sense the author's closeness to his material, not only physically and emotionally, but in terms of time and history. Only a hundred years before his book was written, the Hawaiian people were, after fifteen centuries, still 'pure,' free of Western influence, and living a relatively comfortable stone-age existence.

Well introduced by R. M. Daggett and highly readable throughout, the book is appropriately short of broadly sensational characters and events, stressing instead the importance of honor and nobility of character, the warrior code and spirit, respect for self, family and nature, and finding the necessary path between individual and communal needs. Sneakiness, pettiness, and selfishness are disreputable qualities; facial beauty, excellent physical proportion, athletic ability and joy in life are highly valued.

Sex roles are traditional. Men are men and expected to be honorable, whether warrior, athlete, shaman, nobleman, folk-singer, story-teller, fisherman, farmer or food gatherer. Women are seen as behaving appropriately when warm, supportive, comforting, and pure of intention. Interestingly, though denied the best food under the tabu system, women are often portrayed as objects of veneration, worthy of the sacrifice of a man's life, and held as equals in love relationships. For both sexes, responsible and dedicated parenting is an fundamental function.

These are vital, proud legends of heroes and heroines; their blood can be felt percolating just under the book's pages. The stories are archetypal: there are quests and plagues upon the land, a high priest swallowed by a whale until comfortably vomited up, and solar and lunar myth motifs. War and the actions that lead to war are a constant theme; gods, demi-gods and goddesses are continually present. Though giants, evil spirits and monsters lurk under the sea, behind mountains and in trees and rocks, the writing is evenly balanced so just the suggestion of a hidden underwater cave, a long journey, an inter-family act of betrayal or a timeless, unconditional love creates the required interest and suspense. No single story-telling component is emphasized over another, and though each tale has a point and lesson of sorts, the writing is never didactic. Each of the legends is warmly told, and Kalakaua's terse but beautiful descriptions of nature are easy to visualize.

Amazingly, Kalakaua jumps from the myths of island antiquity to those of his own century without a shift or change of tone. For the Hawaiian people, he seems to be saying, the miraculous moment is always now, as it was then, in the present; the legends are still unfolding, and wonders never cease.

Legends And Myths of Hawaii also contains a map of the islands, an excellent glossary of Hawaiian words and their meanings, as well as a brief but effective pronunciation guide. Highly recommended.

My daughter read Luka's Quilt again last night. It's everything the "professional" reviewers said. Captures the flavor of life in Hawaii with wonderful illustrations and a very nice story with characters (Tutu, the grandmother and the Luka, her granddaughter) that are believable. We purchased this book in Hawaii, so it has special meaning for us. This story could also lead to a discussion with your child about who is right...the solution Tutu comes up with is good. Highly recommended. Planning a trip to Hawaii? Read this with your child. You'll like it.

Luka got a quilt from her tutu. Her tutu made it by herself. I gave the story five stars becase it is funny.

This map is very colorful. It also shows the typography (I hope I have that spelled right)or high spots and low spots such as the volcanic craters, etc. The beaches and airports are marked very well and the insets are detailed enough to figure out where you actually are. Street names are included at the top of the map and various points of interest around the perimeter. I have it hanging in my kitchen as a constant reminder that this is where I will be retiring!

I'm a geographer and a cartographer, have been to Hawaii many times, and have even taught geography courses there. Take my word for it - this is the map to have with you when you explore Maui. It gets the spelling right (most don't), shows all the important and interesting places, and isn't cluttered up with advertising and commercial pitches (like the rental car maps). Part of a series that covers all the major islands.