A beautiful and empowering story about Ho’onani Kamai and her teacher Kumu Hina and a powerful message of acceptance and belonging.  Author Heather Gale and illustrator Mika Song together tell the beautiful story about a person who doesn’t always feel like a wahine (girl) or a kāne (boy) and becomes a hula warrior “strong, sure and steady.”  Based on a documentary called A Place in the Middle, this book delivers a clear message about acceptance in a way young readers can clearly understand.  

Ho’onani just sees herself as Ho’onani, not wahine and not kāne either.  She is creative and independent and young readers will begin to understanding the feeling of gender fluidity through her words.  She wants to be part of the kāne traditional hula chant and is encouraged to try out by her teacher/coach Kumu Hina, a cultural leader and activist and also a transgender woman.  Ho’onani‘s family is very supportive of her choice, all but her sister Kana who doesn’t understand why, in her mind, Ho’onani chooses to reject wahine things and embrace kāne things. My favourite line in the story is Ho’onani’s response to her sister:

“Just because I feel more kāne doesn’t mean I’m not wahine.  I’m in the middle! Why can’t you let me be me!” 

It’s such a vital lesson for young readers, a lesson in acceptance.  Children now are benefiting from a culture of more acceptance, creative expression and non-binary.  While unfortunately many adults did not live in a world where creative gender expression was accepted, the next generation is living with the beautiful reality of acceptance and creativity.  I’m not naive enough to think it is happening everywhere, the news cycle brings that reality into sharp focus, however if we can allow children to learn through the stories of others and through beautiful picture books like Ho’onani Hula Warrior, perhaps they will feel seen within it’s pages and also not so quick to judge when a peer chooses to express themselves in a non-binary way.

I’m glad Heather Gale was inspired by the story of Ho’onani Kamai and Kumu Hina and that we have their beautiful book to share with our children however, I encourage you to check out the website aplaceinthemiddle.org to learn more about Kumu Hina and Ho’onani Kamai.  If you are planning to use this book in your classroom, please take the time to do the research, learn more and download the resources so you can share this beautiful story fully and completely with your students. It is vitally important for children to learn this story from the people who have lived these experience, to hear them tell it in their own words with their own voices.

Finally, I couldn’t end my thoughts about Ho’onani Hula Warrior without talking about Mika Song’s wonderful illustrations. She was obviously inspired by the documentary as you will see when you take the time to watch. Many of the scenes in her illustrations reflect moments in the documentary, creating a seamless link between the two.