One of the most significant gaps in young adult literature has been that written by and centering Native Hawaiian voices. This is brought up every year during Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander month. Book lists celebrating those heritages often caveat that including Native Hawaiian perspectives is challenging, as there are so few. That becomes truer the more specific one gets when it comes to the types of literature being highlighted. For example, finding Native Hawaiian YA fiction is very difficult, within the already difficult pursuit of finding any Native Hawaiian fiction. As always, this isn’t because Native Hawaiians are not writing books. It’s because publishing hasn’t acquired them.
But something positive is happening in YA in 2026. Multiple YA novels are being published across genres that center Native Hawaiian voices. This is not just beyond needed and beyond welcomed. It’s exciting.
Find below a look at the Native Hawaiian YA books hitting shelves this year. They’ll be publishing this spring, and each one promises something fresh, unique, and necessary in YA literature. While it may sound absurd to celebrate the publication of two books, it’s vital; two is more than we have seen in a year in young adult literature, maybe ever. From the perspective of wanting more books like these, they must be read and championed, especially by YA readers.
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An Expanse of Blue by Kauakanilehua Mahoe Adams (May 19)
Aouli Elizabeth Smith has a lot of feelings, and they’re complicated. She doesn’t feel like she’s heard at home, and because she doesn’t believe in the church, she feels like an outsider there, too. She’s also fighting with her sister and has recently lost her best friend. Aouli pours those feelings into her song journal to make sense of her world.
One thing that does make sense to her, though, is the connection and community she feels with her Aunty Ehu and their weekend gatherings with other Native Hawaiians in western Washington. Those Saturday afternoons are filled with joy and warmth.
So when an explosive secret about her father comes to life, it threatens to unsettle this perfect pocket of peace Aouli has cultivated. Lost for words, it’s a new boy named Nalu who may help her find them again.
This novel in verse is garnering comparisons to Elizabeth Acevedo’s excellent The Poet X.
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That Which Feeds Us by Keala Kendall (May 26)
Kōpaʻa Island Resort is a playground for the wealthy and a retreat where those with immense privilege can “escape” the modern conveniences of things like wifi and cell phones. It’s a place plump with persimmons and the promise of rejuvenation.
The place is Lehua’s worst nightmare. Her sister Ohia has gone missing, and Lehua, desperate to find her, follows a trail to Kōpaʻa. But when the island’s boat leaves without Lehua, she’s stuck and cut off from all civilization.
Stuck and desperate for answers about her sister, Lehua begins to uncover Kōpaʻa’s unsavory past. She’s struggling, too, with nightmares and voices telling her she needs to leave now. But the more Lehua attempts to find her sister, the more she discovers about the island’s brutal past.
Lehua will have to face that past to reclaim her own future–and discover what happened to Ohia.
Out in paperback this year is The Invisible Wild by Nikki Van De Car (May 26), a YA romantic fantasy book grounded in Hawaiian legends and lore.
It’s not just YA bringing more Native Hawaiian voices to bookshelves this year, though. In more good news, at least two adult novels by and centering Native Hawaiian voices are on deck for 2026, too. If YA realism, gothic fiction, or romantic fantasy weren’t your cup, perhaps a mystery or space caper will have you slamming a new title onto your TBR.
The Killing Spell by Shay Kauwe (April 14)
About 200 years ago, the Hawaiian islands were completely submerged. Magic was unleashed worldwide, and five Hawaiian clans made a deal with the city of Los Angeles to create a new Hawaiian Homeland.
Kea Petrova, 25, is now the youngest of the clan leaders, and she’s struggling. The treaty that helped establish the Homeland is about to expire. She’s doing all she can to keep her clan going, but she feels she’ll never live up to her ancestors. Things go from bad to worse when Angelo Reyes, Los Angeles’s most prominent Filipino activist, is murdered.
Angelo died from a death spell, which can be traced back to the language magic of Hawaii. Kea becomes a prime suspect in his murder, and now, she has to not only prove her innocence, but she also has to work to ensure that language magic across Los Angeles isn’t further weaponized against her or her clan.
The Obake Code by Makana Yamamoto (February 17)
A standalone science fiction caper? You heard that right.
Malia pulled off the most successful heist imaginable, and now her life has all of the modern luxuries she could have ever dreamed of. Too bad she’s bored. She’s been retired as the Obake–the most infamous hacker in her area, or maybe even the galaxy–for three years now, and well, she’s going to rig some fights for a bit of fun.
Jeongah Song is the leader of a local gang, and his reputation is one of brutality. So when Malia’s plans are uncovered, and she runs into him, she thinks her time has come. But Jeongah has a proposition: his space station operations are being hindered by a local politician, and he needs Malia to take him down. Or else, well, she’ll die.
Malia calls in her team to get the work done, but she ends up entangled in a conspiracy that puts her way over her head.
And that’s not all, either. There’s also a middle grade book by and centering a Native Hawaiian hitting shelves May 5: The Shark Prince by Malia Maunakea.
Want more great reads? Dive into these reads about Hawaii from back in 2018, as well as this piece from 2020 about author Cynthia Leitich Smith’s new Native children’s publishing imprint–at the time, Leitich Smith noted that she couldn’t name a single Native Hawaiian children’s author, and now, she’s publishing the above-mentioned An Expanse of Blue.
English (US) · 