ISLE PAGES

New releases from Hawaii authors, compiled by Burl Burlingame

Keiki Discover Kaua'i Coloring and Activity Book, Yuko Green (Island Heritage, $5.99, $6.99 with crayons)

Another one of Island Heritage's productions designed to keep the kids occupied while you're driving the rental car on vacation. This one contains illustrations to color and stickers to peel 'n' press dealing with the sights of Kauai. It's put together by writer and artist Yuko Green, who's not credited on the cover.

Hawaiian Shirt Designs, Nancy N. Schiffer (Schiffer Publishing, $39.95)

A big, colorful book -- how could a volume on this subject be treated any other way? -- that gives a broad overview of the bewildering variety of Hawaiian shirts and fabrics. Aloha wear is the product of both sophisticated 20th-century mass-printing technology for fabrics and a culture that not only embraced travel for the common man, but the hoarding of mementoes from such journeys.

Since aloha shirts were well-printed, common objects designed to last for years, while also considered luxury items, they became treasured souvenirs of time spent in the islands. In the last half-century, aloha wear has become so common worldwide that it was become a permanent genre of niche apparel. Schiffer wisely doesn't focus on the fluctuating value of such items, instead gearing the volume for those more interested in collecting and design, and she provides general information for each of the hundreds of well-photographed examples. Although there are also jarring examples of generic and uninspired visitor-industry landscape photos sprinkled throughout as filler, the book is a highly entertaining browse.

In Search of Your European Roots, Angus Baxter (GPC, $18.95)

Just the thing for local haoles who are feeling culturally disenfranchised. It's essentially a guidebook so readers can do their own research -- it tells you where to go, and what to ask, but not what might turn up. Dozens of countries' resources are listed, even the itty-bitties like Cyprus and San Marino, but not Ireland or Great Britain; these are the subject of a separate volume.

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HAWAII'S BEST-SELLERS

Best-selling books last month. Figures provided by the Hawaii Book Publishers Association and Bookline distributors, reflecting sales by Hawaii-based publishers. Compiled by Nancy Arcayna.

CHILDREN'S

1. "Hawaiian Flowers Cut-out Paper Dolls," Yuko Green, Island Heritage
2. "Hawaiian Marine Life Color & Activity Book," Yuko Green, Island Heritage
3. "Humu, The Little Fish Who Wished Away His Colors," Kimberly Jackson, Island Heritage
4. "Keiki Hula Sticker Paper Doll Book," Yuko Green, Island Heritage
5. "Golden Children of Hawaii Cut-Out Dolls," Yuko Green, Island Heritage
6. "Hide and Seek in Hawaii," Jane Hopkis & Ian Gillespie, Mutual Publishing
7. "Baby Honu Saves The Day," Tammy Yee, Island Heritage
8. "Goodnight Gecko," Gill McBarnet, Ruwanga Trading
9. "Fishes of Hawaii," Susan & Thomas Kelly, Bess Press
10. "Baby Honu's Incredible Journey," Tammy Yee, Island Heritage

GIFT AND TRAVEL

1. "Pidgin To Da Max," Douglas Simonson, Bess Press
2. "Hawaii's Best Mochi Recipes," Jean Watanabe Hee, Mutual
3. "Maui," Douglas Peebles and Jan TenBruggencate, Mutual
4. "Maui's Hana Highway," Angela Kay Kepler, Mutual
5. "Maui on My Mind," Rita Ariyoshi, Mutual
6. "Ultimate Kauai Guidebook, 3rd Edition," Andrew Doughty and Harriet Friedman, Wizard Publications
7. "Reflections of Kauai," Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi, Island Heritage
8. "Ohana Style Cookbook," St. Francis Medical Center, Island Heritage
9. "Kauai Movie Book," Chris Cook, Mutual
10. "Land of Fire & Ice," Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi, Island Heritage

HAWAIIANA

1. "New Pocket Hawaiian Dictionary," Mary Kawena Pukui et al., UH Press
2. "Hawaiian Dictionary: Hawaiian-English and English-Hawaiian," Mary Kawena Pukui & Samuel H. Elbert, UH Press
3. "Hawaiian Journey," Joseph Mullins, Mutual Publishing
4. "Hawaii Land of Volcanoes," Jan TenBruggencate, Mutual Publishing
5. "Hawaiian Names, English Names," Eileen Root, Press Pacifica
6. "Maui Remembers," Bren Bailey and Gail Bartholomew, Mutual Publishing
7. "All About Hawaiian," Albert J. Schutz, UH Press
8. "Waikiki Yesteryear," Glen Grant, Mutual Publishing
9. "Obake Files," Glen Grant, Mutual Publishing
10. "Pocket Place Names of Hawaii," Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel H. Elbert and Esther T. Mookini, UH Press

LITERATURE

1. "Hawaii's Story," Lydia Liliuokalani, Mutual
2. "Pearl Harbor: The Way It Was," Scott Stone, Island Heritage
3. "Legends & Myths Of Hawaii," David Kalakaua, Mutual
4. "Mark Twain In Hawaii," Mark Twain, Mutual
5. "Shoal of Time: A History of the Hawaiian Islands," Gavan Daws, UH Press
6. "Myths and Legends of Hawaii," W. D. Westervelt, Mutual
7. "The Tattoo," Chris McKinney, Mutual
8. "Remember Pearl Harbor," W.D. Westervelt, Mutual
9. "Betrayal of Liliuokalani," Helena Allen, Mutual
10. "Mark Twain's Letters from Hawaii," A. Grove Day, UH Press

REFERENCE

1. "Pocket Guide to Hawaii's Birds," H. Douglas Pratt, Mutual
2. "Pocket Guide To Hawaii's Flowers," Leland Miyano, Mutual
3. "Pocket Guide to Hawaii's Trees and Shrubs," H. Douglas Pratt, Mutual
4. "Things Hawaiian -- Guide To Hawaiian Language," Albert Schutz, Island Heritage
5. "How to Play the Hawaiian Ukulele," UH Lab School, Mutual
6. "Pocket Guide to Hawaii's Underwater Paradise," John Hoover, Mutual
7. "Hawaii's Fishes," John Hoover, Mutual
8. "Poakalani Hawaiian Quilt Cushion Patterns Vol. I I," Poakalani and John Serrao, Mutual
9. "Hawaii's Birds," Hawaii Audubon Society, Island Heritage
10. "Handy Hawaiian Dictionary," John F. G. Stokes, Mary Kawena Pukui, Henry P. Judd, Mutual Publishing

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