On April 26, 2023, in the Honouliuli Middle School library, the Pacific Literacy Consortium’s production crew filmed the #808Reads 2023 Summer Reading Challenge Launch Party promotional video. PLC produced this video in partnership with the Hawai‘i Department of Education’s Library Media Services. PLC leveraged HIDOE support to distribute the streamed video content statewide through various online platforms. The launch party video officially rolls out the Summer 2023 #808Reads challenge, designed to foster independent reading, family engagement, and a culture of literacy.
Lacy Deniz (Hawai‘i News Now traffic reporter) hosted the pre-recorded program that features her interviews with author Marion Lyman-Mersereau and school librarian Caroline Lee. Born and raised on O‘ahu, Lyman-Mersereau helped build the famed Polynesian double-hulled voyaging canoe, Hōkūleʻa. Additionally, she served as one of its crewmembers on two voyages, one of which the Hōkūleʻa capsized, and legendary waterman Eddie Aikau subsequently paddled on a surfboard to find help. In Lyman-Mersereau’s story, Eddie Wen’ Go, she imaginatively describes what happened next that momentous day through the eyes of a whale, shark, and other sea creatures.
