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Kainoa, the precocious 7-year-old narrator of “Ordinary ‘Ohana”— a happy, irresistible new children’s book by Lee Cataluna — is one of five Kainoas in an extended ohana that gets together for “Sunday” dinner on any day of the week.
“When somebody calls, ‘Kainoa!’ we all know which one they mean just by the sound of the voice and who is doing the calling,” he says.
The youngster, who has two moms, is “a little bit of a smart-aleck, doesn’t talk like a kid that age,” said Cataluna, a Star-Advertiser columnist, explaining that her book, illustrated by Cheyne Gallarde, is meant for adults and children to read together.
Cataluna’s son, also named Kainoa, took the book to school. “His fourth-grade teacher read it to the class and kids said, ‘I have an uncle Boo,’ ‘I have a relative that’s in a wheelchair.’” This confirmed the author’s sense that “nobody has a traditional family. With so many variations, nobody gets to say what’s normal,” she said. Cataluna and Gallarde will sign copies of “Ordinary ‘Ohana” (Bess Press, $14.95) at Book Ends Kailua at noon Saturday.
