Kapaemahu began as an animated short film. The award-winning production team of Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson now sets their script onto the page, resulting in a spectacular picture book--an Indie Next pick--featuring stills from animation director Daniel Sousa's moving images.
The book, like the film, is bilingual, with the film's Olelo Niihau language ("the only form of Hawaiian that has been continuously spoken since prior to the arrival of foreigners") followed by an English translation. Wong-Kalu is "Kanaka--a native person descended from the original inhabitants of the islands of Hawaii," and "also mahu, which like many Indigenous third-gender identities, was once respected but is now more often a target for hatred and discrimination." Sousa's full-bleed pages and saturated palette of predominantly deep earth colors display potent images, and light heightens his superb imagery. Power continues to flow through transparent prose and magnificent visuals, gifting audiences with insights celebrating acceptance and inspiring strength. --Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon