Easy listening and enjoyable.
Looking to learn about a different culture, learn new words and language? Then this is the book to start with. Author Ilima Loomis introduces children to some of the most common and traditional plant to foods in the Hawaiian culture and how food has connected us from the beginning. If you're not familiar with the Hawaiian language, you are given a chance to learn some of the most common words along with their definitions so that it becomes more understandable and embraced.

This beautifully melodic soundtrack and narration provide a wonderful audio version to the book Ohana Means Family. I highly recommend that children listen while they read the book, but they would definitely benefit just from listening to the audio. Music, authentic voices, and a wonderful story make this the perfect audiobook for young readers.

Such a lovely book, that has been adapted for audio book beautifully, the perfect complain to the original book

I liked this audio. It includes sound effects to bring the story alive. The story has a "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" rhyming scheme. I also loved learning some things about Hawaii at the end of the book.

Ohana Means Family by Ilima Loomis
February 4, 2020
#OhanaMeansFamilyCD #NetGalley

<3 This was so well done! The sound effects, the singing and the narration makes for a great meditative soothing listen to put on a loop. The history on Hawaiian culture at the end is a great introduction to the kiddies to other cultures. <3

Ilima Loomis is an award-winning author and writer who's contributed to publications like Science, Discover, Science News for Students, Eos, Astronomy, and Nature. She is based on Maui, Hawaii.

My kids and I enjoyed this book. It has beautiful illustrations and we liked the narrator. Representation matters, and I enjoy having the chance with my children to learn through books.

Great story, wonderful narrator, & great backround music – Highly Recommend!

A sincere thank you to NetGalley, and Live Oak Media for providing me the audiobook “Ohana Means Family CD” in exchange for an honest review. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to read this story and leave my review voluntarily.

Review for the Audiobook version of this book.
This book was almost a 5 stars for me. There was just one element which brought it down which I will mention a bit further in this review.

Starting with the good. The sound effects where great, the voice of the narrator was calming, perfect for the tone of the novel and also had good pacing. I loved how they added some singing to it too. It really added to the atmosphere and painted a really nice and rich picture.

The concept of the book, the words, how it was written were all excellent. I also loved learning more about the Hawaiian culture.

I loved the authors note in the end too and the messages portrayed in the story.

Now we get to the one thing which lowered this audiobook from a 5 to a 4. They did add a glossary to the end of this audiobook which mentioned what the Hawaiian words used meant. Unfortunately I think they maybe should have added that to the beginning.

Let me explain, as a reader listening to this book without seeing the pictures and not knowing the language I was confused from the get go of what was happening. If I were to be reading the book I am sure I could have interpreted the word(s) used from the pictures. However, when you are listening to the book there is not enough context in the words to guess what the word means. As well, as this is a repetition book that continues to build on the last thing said, if you don't know what the first word/item in the repetition is it makes the majority of the rest of the book also hard to grasp. I'm also saying this as an adult who studied English Lit. I am pretty good at finding clues in the text to understand what a word might mean and even I couldn't figure it out. If a child was listening to this they would be even more confused.

I think this problem would be a non-issue with the images accompanying it (I am assuming I have not seen the images) but in audiobook format it's a major issue.

I did love everything else in this audiobook. I think ways people could go about "fixing' this issue could be to fast forward to the end and listen to the glossary with your child first. Or, if you're teaching it in class or something (which I think this book could be great for!) then teaching the meaning of the words first (especially "Taro').

Otherwise I think the publisher could add a quick note to the start to describe at least what "Taro' is so that readers who are reading the audiobook independently from the physical books will be able to grasp everything from the start and not have anything impeding their enjoyment.

Overall though I highly recommend. It was a truly beautiful audiobook.

This book was a favorite in my classroom! The kids loved it, I loved it. It is such a great feel good book with a great message!

Mahalo to Ilima Loomis, spotlight audio and publishers for an advanced copy of Ohana means Family audio in exchange for my honest review. Ohana means Family: Family extending beyond mother, father, brother, and sister to neighbors and friends, all coming together and connecting through food and a shared meal. This truly is the Hawaiian way. This beautifully created soundtrack transported me back to the island of Hawaii. The rich traditions are brought in a way that teaches children sequencing. Ohana means family is a warm book that was a joy to listen to. I wish the audio had the book available so that I could follow along with the pictures and share with my four-year-old but that just means I have a new book to buy. Many praises for this touching story.

This is a charming story about the process of making a luau for a Hawaiian family. The story has a good rhythm and goes wonderfully with the music in the background. There is an explanation from the author about the culture and what goes into the story. I really like the culture it imparted. The story reminds me of "there's a bird in the nest, and the nest on the branch, and the branch on a tree, and the tree in the hole on the ground, and the green grass grows all around."

I enjoyed the audiobook! It did feel a little lacking without the pictures but I think it's still worth a listen, especially for night time reading before bed or for kids who can't see. The background music and sound effects were a great touch to the audiobook, made it feel more immersive. It was also enlightening and portrayed and gave us an insight to luaus, the culture and its family values as well. It's less than 1o minutes long so I think this would be a perfect listen for kids to wind down to before bed.

Exquisite Hawaiian music and the sounds of the preparations for a luau accompany the narration of this beautiful cumulative story. Lyrical rhymes and rhythm draw the listener into the traditions of the community. The audiobook is so gorgeously done that I felt I had to acquire the eReadalong picture book as well. Absolutely brilliant with gorgeous illustrations, this book is a treasure.

I loved this story for younger students! Especially for students that do not know of the cultural difference! It reminded me of a Mother Goose rhyme I listened to when I was younger!

This was a really nice read. I think it would work best as an add-on to the picture book, or at least for me it would. I am a very visual person so while I did love this and enjoyed the narration, the sounds, and the music, I did feel a bit lost. The glossary is at the back so a lot of what was said didn't make sense to me vs. if I'd seen the visuals, I could take a guess at what was being talked about. I also really love that this exists because I can hear what these Hawaiin words actually sound like/are pronounced like

Lovely short story, beautifully read.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy in exchange for my honest feedback.

I visited Hawaii recently for the first time and learning about Polynesian culture and Hawaii history and traditions was one of my favorite aspects of visiting. I went to a luau and I tried poi. I saw the taro growing in the wild and heard the story about it. I loved how this book incorporated so much of that and the interconnectedness of nature and people in poetic verses that build upon the story with each page. It incorporates colorful illustrations and the audio helps to hear the pronunciations. A helpful glossary is provided in the back as well. Educational and beautiful book.

This is just wonderful. My 4 year old has been very interested in learning more about Hawaiian culture ever since hearing the music from MOANA, and this is a delightful, age appropriate book to introduce her to it.

The book teaches young readers about the native Hawaiian tradition of making poi and coming together for an Ohana Luau in the style of THIS IS THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT.

One of the things I love about the audio version is being able to hear native Hawaiians speaking the words, especially with the glossary. It's a very enjoyable listen, and fully produced with not just audio, but also SFX and music.

We also got the physical book from the library which has beautiful illustrations and I fully expect we will add it to our family library.

***Thank you to Publisher Spotlight Audio, Live Oak Media for providing me with the audiobook for free via NetGalley for an unbiased review.

Me and my son listened this wonderful story about Hawaiian culture and the meaning of the world Ohana.

With melodic, Hawaiian background music, to the gentle lilt of the narrator we were both feeling dreamy and interested while listening and we learned some amazing cultural things.

It’s rare to find a children a audio that can hold a four year olds attention but this one does it.

Ohana Means Family
by Ilima Loomis , Kenard Pak

the cd version of the book shows not only the method of creating Poi, but also the Hawaiian culture, from the definition of words, and recipe of Poi. The meaning of family and how important the food is not only for survival, but for cultural and social reasons. The added music and meanings enhance the story for young students as they learn about different indigenous cultures and peoples.