AN EXPANSE OF BLUE
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.
PRAISE FOR AN EXPANSE OF BLUE!
⭐ “Adams's skill is evident in the way she plays with the form and structure of her text. Aouli moves between a variety of poetic forms, from visually striking concrete poems to surreal depictions of dreams. Adams tells the story from inside a specific diasporic community and, because of its diaristic format, An Expanse of Blue is intrinsically intimate. But as is so often true of poetry, its specificity is what lends to its universality—in the wide expanse of space between Aouli's words, anyone might find a piece of themselves reflected.” - Shelf Awareness (Starred Review)
⭐ “Via distinctive and emotionally resonant verse, Adams crafts an evocative story about identity, devotion, and belonging…Measured and profound language—arranged in short lines, cascading stanzas, and block formations that reflect emotional shifts—conveys Aouli’s internal growth and cultural awakening with aching assuredness.” - Publisher’s Weekly (Starred Review)
⭐ "This heartfelt debut novel in verse will appeal to both literary and reluctant readers, as will Aouli’s fervent love for her sister and Nalu, for the blue sky, and for the big blue sea." - Booklist (Starred Review)
“Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) debut novelist Adams makes strong use of the verse format, effectively utilizing layout to emphasize meaning in this culturally rich coming-of-age story. Aouli’s desperate yearning to be seen and valued for herself will resonate widely. An emotionally raw, nuanced work from a new voice to watch.” - Kirkus Reviews
“Rather than building toward neat resolution, the novel embraces uncertainty…The visual and poetic elements together evoke fragility and possibility. What makes the novel so empowering is its refusal of easy uplift. Growth here is interior and ongoing, ultimately suggesting that becoming whole only requires the courage to spread out one’s own wings.” -School Library Journal
"Adams’s verse novel makes inventive use of the page as a visual medium. Her imagery evokes emotions and experiences ranging from isolation, helplessness, and loneliness to self-confidence, courage, and freedom. While Aouli experiences loss and changes in her relationships, she also gains self-trust, romantic love, and connection to her ancestors" - The Horn Book
ANTHOLOGIES & POETRY
LEGENDARY FRYBREAD DRIVE-IN
Michael L. Printz Award Winner
American Indian Youth Literature Award Winner
Featuring the voices of both new and acclaimed Indigenous writers and edited by bestselling Muscogee author Cynthia Leitich Smith, this collection of interconnected stories serves up laughter, love, Native pride, and the world’s best frybread.
The road to Sandy June's Legendary Frybread Drive-In slips through every rez and alongside every urban Native hangout. The menu offers a rotating feast, including traditional eats and tasty snacks. But Sandy June's serves up more than food: it hosts live music, movie nights, unexpected family reunions, love long lost, and love found again. That big green-and-gold neon sign beckons to teens of every tribal Nation, often when they need it most.
Featuring stories and poems by: Kauakanilehua Māhoe Adams, Marcella Bell, Angeline Boulley, K. A. Cobell, A. J. Eversole, Jen Ferguson, Eric Gansworth, Byron Graves, Kate Hart, Christine Hartman Derr, Karina Iceberg, Cheryl Isaacs, Darcie Little Badger, David A. Robertson, Andrea L. Rogers, Cynthia Leitich Smith, and Brian Young.
PRAISE FOR LEGENDARY FRYBREAD DRIVE-IN!
"17 Indigenous writers create a web of entertaining, intertwined stories in this uplifting and unusual anthology, ideal for the YA reader who longs for connection and authenticity. Themes of displacement and loneliness, as well as the importance of connection to family, friends, and tribe, permeate the entries, making the collection relevant and accessible for teen readers of any background. As Cheryl Isaacs says in "Heart Berry," "One way or another, Sandy June's never fail[s]." - Shelf Awareness
⭐ "Welcome to the best-kept secret on Turtle Island! A mixture of award-winning authors and new voices use this liminal space in surprising and inventive ways, creating a microcosm of the interconnectedness of modern Indigenous life, one in which community and family, past and present, encourage its young visitors to inhabit their truest selves as they look toward the future. It is also simply a terrific collection of entertaining stories—full of laughter, music, delicious food, friendship, and romance—that will appeal to teen readers across age ranges, identities, and interests." - Booklist (starred review)
"The literary conceit that unifies these stories is a magical “NDN Country” frybread drive-in that serves up Native comfort food and wisdom, a “collective dream” where young people in need of connection or healing find themselves among an intertribal community of all ages...many stories mention historical events and all of them touch on family heritage, they also feel quite of-the-moment." - Horn Book Magazine
"There's a lot of warmth and gratitude to revel in...Various characters thread through each other’s stories, allowing many of the players more depth and nuance had they only been in one tale, and encouraging the readers to make the thematic connections in cultural identities that are both individually specific and community-wide." - Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
⭐ "Superlative." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"This reverent compendium provides the setting for 17 loosely linked stories about Indigenous teens navigating evergreen concerns about love, life, and identity. Smith’s uplifting poem “Open Mic at the Drive-In” closes this liminal-feeling collection, which pays tribute to the Native traditions and intergenerational relationships preserved by the “run-down, neon” drive-in." - Publishers Weekly
⭐ "As readers take in the stories, they will be transported time and time again to Sandy June’s, where the protagonists get more than just frybread. Each teen gets exactly what they need—and readers do too. Hand this collection to any reader who is looking for a place made for them; they will find it between these pages." - School Library Journal (starred review)
Now Available for Preorder
WITNESS: POEMS TO ADDRESS THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE OF POLICING
Coming 9.1.26
A potent YA poetry anthology that explores policing and public safety while honoring the past, recognizing our present, and making space for dreams of the future.
In this deeply moving collection, anthologists and poets Ari Tison and Ty Chapman give readers an opportunity to reflect, to discuss, and above all, to witness.
The complete list of poets includes: Kauakanilehua Māhoe Adams, D. R. Bernstrom, Fong Li Blessing, Ty Chapman, Kinsale Drake, Margarita Engle, Amanda Gorman, Ronald Greer, Nikki Grimes, Carolyn Holbrook, Kari Anne Holt, Douglas Kearney, Tae Keller, Erin Entrada Kelly, Halee Kirkwood, Michael Kleber-Diggs, Ada Limon, Mariama J. Lockington, W. J. Lofton, Kyle Carrero Lopez, Kekla Magoon, Kyle Tran Myhre, Alice Paige, Junauda Petrus, Bao Phi, Jason Reynolds, Karuna Riazi, Laura Ruby, Aida Salazar, Hannah V. Sawyerr, Ollie Schminkey, Taiwana Shambley, Sun Yung Shin, Danez Smith, Ari Tison, Padma Venkatraman, Jasmine Warga, and Kao Kalia Yang
THE COUNTRY IN THE MIRROR: POEMS OF PROTEST & WITNESS
Edited by Sharon Darrow and including nearly ninety poets from across the United States and Canada, The Country in the Mirror: Poems of Protest & Witness is an urgent anthology of poems written in response to the troubles of our times. It is comprised of a variety of voices, from new writers to well-seasoned poets who are widely published and celebrated, such as Martín Espada, Nikki Grimes, Rachel Hadas, Gregory Maguire, Bianca Stone, among others, writing about a myriad of issues related to immigration, detention, loss of voice, civil rights, climate change, rising fascism, global wars, genocide, history, abortion, LGBTQIA+ experiences and more.
The Country in the Mirrorholds a mirror to our diversity, our freedom of expression, and our collective humanity to remind us of the liberties we have as Americans, and to caution of their loss.
SAN DIEGO POETRY ANNUAL 2024-25
HAWAIIAN BABY FOOD CIRCA 1997 by Kauakanilehua Māhoe Adams is a finalist for the 2024-25 Steve Kowit Poetry Prize!
The SDPA includes many of the finest poets from the San Diego region and beyond, plus the Steve Kowit Poetry Prize honorees and finalists.