- An Expanse of Blue
- by Kauakanilehua Mahoe Adams
- Heartdrum
- Publication Date: May 19, 2026
- ISBN: 978-0063417953
Native Hawaiian teen, Aouli Smith, lives in the Pacific Northwest, where the gloomy weather mirrors her problems with her family, her friends and the expectations her family and church place on her. But with love and guidance from Aunty Ehu and others in her Native Hawaiian community, Aouli finds the courage and strength to spread her wings and choose something different for herself and her sister.
This novel-in-verse is written as if you are reading Aouli’s song journal. Above all else, this book is character driven with lines that hit you with an emotional gut punch. Readers will genuinely feel that Aouli is a real person–she just leaps off the page. While not an action-centered plot, the format and structure are immersive and the pages just fly by. The use of white space on the page represents the emotional depth in a compelling way without getting heavy-handed and bogged down with prose. It wrestles with real emotions and questions about identity. While you see growth on the page and the story ends on an uplifting note, readers are free to guess what happens next. This would be an excellent choice for book clubs or as a buddy read. Much like real life, not everything is tied up at the end with a bow on it, but the ending is still satisfactory for the reader.
Fans of novels-in-verse and coming-of-age stories will gravitate toward this one.
This is a great readalike for fans of All the Fighting Parts by Hannah Sawyyer, The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo and Bright Red Fruit by Safia Elhillo.
-Megan Nigh
