Georgia In Hawaii

This historical fiction text tells about Georgia O'Keeffe and her artistic journey through Hawaii. Originally commissioned to paint a pineapple for The Hawaiian Pineapple Company, O'Keeffe traveled to several places in Hawaii and painted everything but a pineapple. She was a stubborn woman and didn't let anyone tell her what to paint. At the end of her trip, the company was disappointed that there was not a pineapple painting in her breadth of work. After some thought, O'Keeffe decided to respect their wishes and finally sent them a pineapple painting to celebrate Hawaii's pineapples!  

Aside from the fact that it is an enjoyable read and its illustrations are gorgeous, this book would be a great book to have in my classroom. It is a wonderful book to engage students who are interested in art, and it could also inspire some students who may have trouble tapping into the artist inside of them! 

Additionally, I think that the use of adjectives throughout the book was really interesting. The language that the author chooses to describe the Hawaiian flowers is very beautiful and could serve as a model to students learning about how to shape their message with the use of descriptive writing. Combined with an art project in which students could draw or paint like O'Keeffe, this book could be used for an ELA/Art lesson. It is also quite possible that you could use O'Keeffe's paintings to talk about the features of a flower, integrating science topics as well. 

Georgia In Hawaii 
By: Amy Novesky

Illustrated by: Yuyi Morales 
Published in 2012