“Home had always been the safest place in the world. But within a few short hours, everything in Nanea’s life had been turned upside down. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying only to see the beautiful things… But all the images were edged in black.” The Spirit of Aloha page 40
Nanea is really wonderful and she’s definitely one of my favorite AG characters. We found her extremely relatable because her world was turned upside down at the bombing of Pearl Harbor and our world was turned upside down at the Paradise Camp Fire. I could barely read the above quote from above without chocking up. We know what that feels like. I got teary several times during read aloud time with this series.
My intention was to go from AG Molly to AG Samantha but then my daughter wanted a Hawaiian themed birthday party so we got sidetracked with Nanea. Nanea’s story is set at the beginning of World War II on the island of Oahu near Honolulu and Pearl Harbor. The doll was released in 2017, and as a newer doll, the books are a bit different than the original 1980s dolls’ books. The books were so enjoyable because they combined Hawaiian-American history with Hawaiian culture. It was really fun to learn some Hawaiian words and listen to the Hawaiian music referenced in the book.
Book we read
- Nanea: The Spirit of Aloha (1)
Books we ran out of time for…
- Nanea: Hula for the Home Front (2)
- Prints in the Sand: My Journey with Nanea
- The Legend of the Shark Goddess: A Nanea Mystery
- Beforever Growing Up with Aloha: A Nanea Classic 1 – – – As far as I can tell this book is nearly the same as Nanea: The Spirit of Aloha except that the Beforever Classic has four additional chapters: 10. In the Dark, 12. Starfish, 18. Nanea in Charge, and 19. Dipping Her Paddle. Also chapter 14. in the Beforever Classic is titled “Deck the Halls” instead of chapter 12. Mele Kalikimaka. I chose to read Nanea: The Spirit of Aloha instead because it’s the book that originally came with the doll, it includes 2 pages with pictures of Nanea’s Friends and Family, a color map of Oahu, color illustrations throughout, and the last chapter, “Inside Nanea’s World” has both color illustrations and black and white photographs.
Snacks
We attempted making guava bread two different ways and neither was very good. So I’ve got nothing to help you here. The characters have guava bread in the book and it sounds delicious… perhaps you’ll have better luck than we did!
Activities
Learn to hula dance – I Hula Hawaii online hula lessons
Have a Hawaiian themed party
Do the contest activities mentioned in the book:
Watch Wild Hawaii on Disney+
Listen to the Hawaiian music referenced in the books
Aloha ‘Oe with ukulele play along
Queen Liliʻuokalani’s Aloha ‘Oe
Crafts
Origami Kit for Kids or you may be able to find kids origami books at your local library.
Draw a portrait of your pet(s) like the reward poster for Mele in the book.
We hope you enjoyed this unit study for Nanea. Be sure to check out my other American Girl unit studies:
American Girl: Felicity 1774 – American History Unit Study
American Girl: Molly 1944 – American History Unit Study
American Girl: Kaya 1764 – American History Unit Study
American Girl: Tenney 2017 – Nashville, Tennessee Unit Study
🍎 Happy homeschooling friends!
heavens to betty 
How fun!! Love the Hawaii theme birthday and the outfits. 🙂
BTW, we received your care package today. Thank you! I wrote about it on my blog., so just wanted to let you know. 🙂
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