I am an Elementary School Librarian and I love what I do. Thanks to covid19, I now work from home. One thing I love doing as a librarian is reading aloud to my students. Everyday, I record a new read aloud for them. I have a strong feeling there are many other children that could benefit from a librarian too! I’d love to be Your Virtual Librarian.
The books listed here are local Hawaii books written for Hawaii kids so they could see themselves in a book. These books share our wonderful Hawaii culture and life. Even if you have never lived in Hawaii, they are enjoyable books for all!
Any time I post a new read aloud in this genre, I will be sharing on social media and updating this post. Enjoy!
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by Sandi Takayama
Everyone knows the classic story of “The Gingerbread Man” and how he runs away from everyone to avoid getting eaten. This version of “The Gingerbread Man,” has a local Hawaii twist to it and a very different ending. Which version do you like better?
Hawaii is a special place where many cultures came together to be one. In this book is a lot of words only Local Hawaii people know so I created a fun vocab video for this book: https://youtu.be/ycc2v8w33WA
I also created a “commercial” vocab video (under a minute) to introduce the longer video: https://youtu.be/xjo2gHde7v8
If you enjoyed this book and would like to add it to your library, you can get it here: https://www.besspress.com/childrens-books-products/the-musubi-man
Read and recorded with permission from Bess Press Publishing.
by Tammy Paikai
This is one of my favorite books written in Hawaii and about our Hawaii culture. What do you do when you have too much of something? In Too Many Mangos, we learn about the sharing culture in Hawaii.
If you enjoyed this book as much as me, you can get it for your home library here: https://amzn.to/33N5KDI
by Christin Lorzano
Great local Hawaii story with beautiful pictures about toes for preschool to 1st grade.
If you enjoyed this book and would like to add it to your home library or give as a gift, you can get it here: https://amzn.to/2JS8iaM or https://www.besspress.com/childrens-books-products/island-toes
Permission to read and record this book granted by Bess Press.
Cockroaches are HUGE in Hawaii and can fly! For some reason they fly straight towards your head! Here is fun local Hawaii story to tell how the cockroach learned to fly.
If you enjoyed this book and would like to get this book for your own personal library, you can get this book here: https://amzn.to/2JynEAZ
If you’ve enjoyed these read alongs, you may also enjoy these:
Such a great idea!!
Thank you. 😊
It’s nice that you share reading aloud the Hawaii books
Thanks!
Great idea and it’s funny as I read this it brought back such wonderful memories of our elementary school librarian reading to us. I don’t remember what she read but I remember how I felt as she read.
This is so wonderful to hear! Sounds like you had a great librarian. 💕 I hope my students feel the same about their time with me. ❤️ Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with me! 😊
What a great list. I will use them prior to a trip with my grandson to get him ready for the trip.
That’s a fun idea. 😊 The beach is always a favorite for the kids! 💕
I love all of these. I hope I can check them out at my library when it opens again.
I know all public Hawaii libraries have most of these. If not suggest them to your librarian. 😊
Hawaii is my favorite! My husband and I honeymooned there 😊
❤️Yes, Hawaii is a very special place! 😊
Great books for learning for children to learn about geography and reading at the same time!
Thanks. It’s fun to learn about the 50th state. 😉
We love Hawaii and learning about the culture! These books look really cute!
Hope you’ll have some time to enjoy listening to them!
Great list of read-aloud! Will definitely be adding them to our TBR pile once the libraries open up.
I actually recorded myself reading these books aloud. 😉 So you can enjoy them before the libraries open again! 😊
This is so neat! Hawaii is my dream destination!
Hawaii is a very wonderful place to visit just not right now. 😉😆
This is so great! I am a teacher and our librarian is also recording read alouds. Thank you so much for this awesome post!
Sounds like you have a great librarian! 😊
Cute stories that weren’t on my radar before. Thanks!
You are right these are hidden gems of the islands. 😉
Great job! Love that you are reading local books from Hawaii!
Heehee I figured someone should start, let it be me! 😆😉
Love this! What a fun idea!
Thank you! It has been fun. 😊
This is so cool to be able to do that for your students!!
I love my students!
These are awesome! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you!
That is really cool that you’re doing this! You are great at it!
Thank you. 😊
I am glad you can read to your students using podcasts.
Hmmmm…I’ve never tried to do a podcast yet…I’ve actually been recording on Zoom, editing on iMovie and posting on YouTube as unlisted. I wonder if podcasting would be easier…
This is awesome and I love the idea of reading out loud. Many will definitely enjoy this.
I hope so too. Thank you!
This is great! What a great resource for those of us at home all day!
Thank you! I hope it helps many parents during this time. And enjoyable for the kids. ❤️
These are some great books. I will have to check them out for my nephew.
Thank you! I hope you and your nephew will be able to enjoy these recorded read alouds together. 😊
What a lovely way to expose the kids to this beautiful state!
Thank you! Hawaii is such a special place but so many people don’t know how beautiful it is besides our wonderful beaches and nature.
This is SO amazing & sweet that you are doing this for your elementary school children. What a blessing you are to them during this time!
Thank you! I’m thrilled that other children not from my schools that are also enjoying these recorded read alouds too! ❤️
Great ideas!
Thanks. 😊
These are great! Going to play them for my son this week.
I hope he enjoys them. Thank you!
This is lovely – thank you for all you do for kids and education!
Thank you