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.
Brief description:
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.
Review Quotes:
"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)
"An intimate slice of life about grief, sisterhood, and the power of being seen. Adams skill is evident as 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)
"An emotionally raw, nuanced work from a new voice to watch. 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." - Kirkus Reviews
"Empowering...Rather than building toward neat resolution, the novel embraces uncertainty. Aouli's world is not magically repaired. Yet what she gains is something more enduring: the recognition that she has wings." - School Library Journal
"Executed beautifully, with an unforced elegance in its artistry that avoids getting overly precious but utilizes every word and every page. Rebellious daughters who found kinship in Julia in Sánchez's I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter may find another like-minded comrade in Aouli." - The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books