This book had a very creative storyline, and was exciting and a little humoruos at times, but did not provide a very interesting novel. I wouldn't recommend this unless you're a big fan of Robert Louis Stevenson.

Stevenson wrote this tale of the islands in 1891 and it appeared in Samoan before being published in English.

The story is one of want and envy. Although it ends happily, the narrator comes perilously close to living eternally with the devil--all for his envy. There is poetry in this prose, love, and of course magic.

The tale opens as Keawe the Great--a poor, brave, mariner, a reader and writer, shipped on a vessel to San Francisco where he saw a house "smaller than some others, but all finished and beautified like a toy." Its steps shone like silver, the borders of its gardens bloomed like garlands and the windows shone like diamonds. Keawe could see the man who lived there "like a fish in a pool upon the reef."

Of course the owner's life was perfect in every respect, except that he owned a magic bottle which must be sold for less than he bought it, or else in death he would be condemned to hell. He was ill, and therefore desperate to sell the bottle. Keawe bought it.

Small children may not appreciate this story, which seems best suited for independent or sophisticated readers of 11 and up.

But the tale (beautifully illustrated) is as much a treasure as Stevenson's most famous classic, Treasure Island. Alyssa A. Lappen

I recently returned from my first trip to Hawai'i and this book was constantly at my side! Visiting O'ahu, Kaua'i and the Big Island, I wanted to make sure I got the most out of all islands. This book has excellent photography, superb maps and has information on all major sightseeing and tourist attractions.

One of the things that truly separates this guide from many other of it's ilk are the additional sections that include the legends and history of the island chain. All Hawai'i guidebooks will tell you that Spouting Horn blowhole is a must-see on Kaua'i, but few will mention the legend of the lost mo'o, or lizard that is trapped inside the blowhole. In addition, excerpts from literary travelers like Mark Twain and Isabella Bird provide interesting perspectives on the various islands.

This guide goes beyond simply showing you what to do, it provides an excellent read!

I didn't give it 5 stars because there wasn't information on pricing, hours and other details for most of the attractions. This wasn't a big problem for me, but you may want to purchase an additional guide if they desire this information.

This book makes an interesting read, even if you don't plan on going to Hawaii - I give it four stars because of two things: the irrelevant underwater photos, and the lack of detail. This guidebook has murky underwater b&w photos of dolphins or whales or something for chapter headings - pretty much useless. The photos of natural Hawaii places (for instance the two page spread of Wainamamahea (sp.?) Beach in Maui) are beautiful, and more should have been included. It's best to buy a Let's Go Hawaii or Rough Guide to go along with this book...it glosses over a lot of the details of actually having a decent trip.

The stories of the people of Hawaii, and the vignettes about each town make this book a worthwhile purchase. This Compass series of guidebooks is great.

We have another hiking book for Oahu but found many of the hikes to be too long and too challenging to do with young children so I bought this one. I am very happy with it. All of the hikes/walks are pretty short. Long enough to get out and get some exercise but not too long. The book lists hikes throughout the entire island-I think there is good variety. Some of them are just simple beach walks that you may not have thought of on your own. There are a few serious hikes but if you are a serious hiker I'd get a different book. It has great directions and explanations for the hikes. This would be a great book if you are planning on traveling to Oahu and don't want to hang out on the beach all day, every day. The two very small negatives are it doesn't have the difficulty rating for each hike, but I imagine they are almost all beginning to intermediate. The other is it lists a hike that has been closed by the government for over a year now and it doesn't look like it will open any time soon. I would prefer the author replace that with another hike. Enjoy!

This is a well organized guide for the traveler who wants to step away from the sand and crowds of Waikiki. The author gives you vital information on 22 different hikes around the island including Diamond Head. All of the hikes are easy to moderate, even for a 75 year old grandmother. One trail described has been closed indefinitely since the book was published (Sacred Falls) due to several deaths caused by flash flooding--therefore readers and hikers should exercise due caution when hiking on Oahu. Each description covers the hiking distance, hiking time, elevation gain, and appropriate topographic map (although you won't need it). There are paragraph hike summaries and directions for getting to the trailhead and navigating the trail itself. In some cases there are maps too, but these are useless without scale or compass orientation. If you want to hike on Oahu this is the guide for you!

This book is essentially a manuscript of memoirs, (the impression I had was a thesis) written by the daughter of a Naval officer stationed at Pearl. The day-to-day details of pre-war life in Hawaii (considered an exotic location to most Americans in the early '40s) are well described. The civilian impressions of post-attack Honolulu are also the strengths of this work. The book is less successful as it attempts to describe the progress of the war. It probably would have been better to relate the war news "as heard" at the time, and the ups and downs of civilian morale dealing with the news, and the thousands of servicemen descending on the islands.
All in all, a fairly good read, but not an in-depth memoir of civilian life in wartime Hawaii.

With the release of the new movie "Pearl Harbor", there is heightened interest in the events that began our involvement in World War II. This short work fills some of that knowledge gap, and it's crammed full of wonderful photographs taken by the female author's mother while she lived in the islands in 1941 and 1942. There is nothing like a photo to add realism to a text, and both aspects of this work complement each other. There is a lot of text that gives an overview of what happened on the islands directly after the attack, and how life changed for the residents. The bonus is that we are also given a first person account of that life by Carroll Jones, the daughter of the taker of those excellent photos. This is the type of book you will want to savor over the years, and the photos will keep it ever new in your mind and memory.

I found this book to be full of good, well organized information. I have a collection of Hawaiian tour guides & do not make this statement lightly.

The hotel descriptions were particularly useful in assisting me to decide which hotel to stay in. I am sure I will find the restaurant & "what to see" section to be just as helpful.

My own minor complaint is that the largest spaces between the different parts of the book were doubled spaced. There were no chapters, and I found it a little hard to read.

Mr. Penisten will soon come out with his 6th edition & I am sure it will be eagerly received by those planning a trip to the largest of the Hawaiian islands.

The best thing about this book is that it's written by someone who has lived in Hilo most of his life, eaten at the restaurants, shopped in the shops, hiked the trails, swum off the beaches - not once but dozens of times. I was enchanted to encounter little tidbits like grocery prices, recipes for island dishes, lists of bicycle rental outlets, etc. The fact that this book isn't from some huge mainstream publisher is a plus as the element of surprise is there. It's the sort of guide you take with you on a long sojourn and dip into all the time. For us off islanders, the detailed accommodations listings are a boon and the exact prices an occasional lifesaver. I'd recommend getting Penisten's book even if you already have a more weighty tome like Moon's Big Island of Hawaii Handbook. For the nuts and bolts of travel I give this guide ten out of ten.

Although this book is almost 10 years old, it remains the best introduction to the political economy of Hawaii. And it's very readable.

in this book it told me the states nick name its history and the important events that happened in the story.

I like that this book because it actually rates hikes. I need an opinion when I am provided with such vast natural beauty to choose from as in Hawaii. He also tells you the best sights for spotting so apart from referencing wildlife, fauna and marine life as you come across you can seek it out. A good reference to use before and during your trip to the islands.

This is a natural history guide for someone who is really serious about gaining an in-depth understanding of Hawaii's natural environment, animals and plants. It's very complete and very well done (for the most part) and is the best one that I've seen about Hawai`i. Following the pattern of many other guidebooks, Beletsky's guide is divided into two sections. The first section (204 pages) is explanatory text while the second section (180 pages) consists of color drawings and photographs of Hawaii's flora and fauna.

The first half of the book is very comprehensive and is itself divided into basically two parts. Part "A" (6 chapters) covers ecotourism, Hawaii's natural history (including geography and climate), habitats, parks and preserves, getting around, environmental threats, conservation and how to use the book. Part "B" covers Hawaii's animals in just the right amount of detail (and in 6 more chapters). Each chapter explores a major animal group, such as "Amphibians and Reptiles," "Birds," "Mammals," etc. The chapters are well organized and they all include the same sections for each animal group. For example, the chapter on Mammals includes Mammals of Hawai`i, Characteristics of the Mammals, Family Profiles, and an "Environmental Close-up." Each of those sections then includes common subsections. It sounds tedious, but it actually works very well!

The second half of Beletsky's guide contains the color plates used for identifying all of the species described in the first half. They are beautifully done. Each animal has a brief description along with its names (common, Hawaiian and scientific), a habitat icon and a habitat description. There are also lots of interesting "factoids" in this guidebook.

One of the more interesting "environmental close-ups" is the one on spinner dolphins. They often travel with spotted dolphins and/or tuna in what is called a "mutualistic relationship" to protect themselves against sharks. Spinners feed during the night and spotteds feed during the day, so they trade off watching for sharks. They both like tuna schools around because the tuna are better than they are at sensing the presence of sharks; when the tuna take off, so do they!

While this is an excellent guidebook overall, I do have some complaints. The key to the habitat icons isn't anywhere near the color plates or in the index; it's way back on page 77 and very hard to find. Some of the sections are actually contributed by different people and I got tired of reading the same introductory comments about Hawaii's isolation and the evolution of endemic species over and over. The habitat pictures feel like they were just "thrown in" - they aren't captioned very well and they aren't matched to the habitat icons. The plant plates also feel "thrown in" - there isn't a matching chapter on plants in the first half of the book. Fixing those items would make it a "five out of five stars" book.

This book is good. Maddy, Kam, Jesse,and Nicholas are great characters. Lauraine had done it again! Keep it up Lauraine!

Lauraine Snelling has done it again! Hawaiian Sunrise is a great book. One that when you start it, you won't be able to put it down. Lauraine has created a characters that are alive and are right beside me. The reader cries with Maddy, laughs with Kam and Nicholas touches your heart as Maddy fights not only for herself but to give her son what he needs more then anything else in the world. Love. This is much more than a story about two people who fall in love. This is a story about a woman who learns how and what love is for the first time. Its a story about life. The ups and downs of how we all fall in love and do need someone, even if we don't want to admit it! More then that its a story that gives abused women hope,that they too can meet their own Kam.

I've now read three Salisbury books, and they were all marvelous. I'll be a fan of his for a long time. "Jungle Dogs," like his award-winning "Under the Blood-Red Sun" and his acclaimed debut, "Blue Skin of the Sea," takes place in Hawaii and focuses on a boy's conflicts while growing up. Like those other two works -- "Blue Skin," incidentally, is a real delight -- "Dogs" is beautifully written, with a potent sense of time and place and a wide range of human emotions and experience. It also has uncannily authentic dialog and several moments of hit-me-in-the-gut poignancy. I strongly recommend ANY Salisbury work; I can't wait to get my hands on his latest, "Shark Bait."

This book is great for anybody that enjoys reading I have read this book about 5 times and I still enjoy it. GET THIS BOOK!!!

This book only tells of a subset of types of kahuna, and tells a few legends.

Kahuna means keeper of the secret. There were prayer kahunas, kahuna aloha that practised love magic, kahunas that built houses, kahunas that made canoes, kahunas that were expert farmers, etc.

This 76 page book lists several types of kahunas, and relates the legends of some kahunas. However; this book is extremely shallow, and does not relate the spiritual beliefs or practises of the Hawaiian kahunas.

Either "Hawaiian Magic and Spirituality" by Scott Cuunninghan would give you a more complete list of the types of kahunas, and some of the spiritual beliefs as well.

Please E-Mail me if you have questions or comments; Two Bears.

Wah doh Ogedoda (We give thanks Great Spirit)

This little book surely is not a comprehensive treatment of the Kahuna or ancient Hawaiian spirituality and knowledge systems in general, but in my eyes it provides an excellent starting point for anyone who is completely unfamiliar with the subject. The author achieves an eye opening effect, showing that native Hawaiians actually did have a sophisticated civilization and a complex scholarly tradition that did not in any way have to hide behind the Western traditions at the time of first contact, especially considering the natural conditions under which this civilization thrived and flourished in the greater Polynesian context.

The book is a treat for anyone who wants to glimpse the colors of a culture that still has much wisdom to offer for our battered times.