Join Stella the Cutest Corgi on her Grand Circle Island Aloha Adventure ? and meet a cast of 30 real Hawaiian animals along the way.
Adventure alongside Stella as she meets a humuhumunukunukuapua'a ? the fish with the longest name on Earth ? rides a humpback whale's blowhole into the Honolulu sky, and solves the Royal Riddle of a Hawaiian monk seal at Hanauma Bay. She races a green sea turtle who has all the time in the world, chases a Jackson's chameleon through misty waterfalls, stands watch with a gold dust day gecko, and watches a praying mantis say grace before every meal. She swims alongside silver spinner dolphins and a one-of-a-kind wholphin, paddles through a duck-filled dragonfly pond, and trades stories with a fruit-stand mongoose. She meets guinea-pig sisters Ruby and Topaz in the tall grass, uncovers a hidden city of chickens, befriends a mynah bird who barks like a dog, tiptoes around a shy wild boar, and watches a little bulbul take a pothole bath. At the zoo, she out-roars a pride of lions, learns to balance like a giraffe, laughs with a rainbow-painting elephant, cheers on the sunshine penguins, and races a cheetah. She teams up with a treasure-hunting warthog and meerkat, follows an X to a nene goose's magical tide pool, and learns the one rule about a Hawaiian centipede she must never break. By night, she flies alongside graceful manta rays, befriends a lantern-eared fennec fox, and watches the sacred night marchers pass from a safe distance. And when the ocean finally pulls her home, a wise old octopus and a family of hammerhead sharks are there to see her through.
30 real Hawaiian animals. One very good girl. A lifetime of lessons.
Every encounter teaches something true ? about Hawai'i, about kindness, about faith, about being exactly who you are. Woven through every page: 45 real Hawaiian words and phrases, a Quick Facts page for every creature, and Stella's own true-life story ? rescued in New Zealand, raised in Hawai'i, and famous for being exactly herself.
Stella is real. She was in the audition video that got the family picked for Family Feud ? and picked to be the very first family living in Hawai'i ever flown out to compete, a piece of game-show history all its own. They won Fast Money twice, beat five families across five episodes, and took home the Grand Prize car. When they flew back home to Hawai'i after the win, Stella was right there waiting for them. Ten years later, she was still right there ? joining the family again at The Great Big Game Show at Ala Moana Center. This book commemorates that: one very good girl, still with her family a decade after the win that started it all. Her Instagram following, her original song, and this island are all real too ? and now, so is her book.
A heartwarming, laugh-out-loud, fact-filled island journey for readers of every age ? kids, parents, grandparents, and anyone who's ever loved a really good dog.