Sal Hernandez was one of the early birds to the Friends of the Lihu‘e Public Library Summer Used Book Sale Friday.
“I don’t know what I’m looking for,” Hernandez said. “Maybe some good fiction.”
The doors opened to the sale to a waiting line of shoppers on the first of two days of sale that will end at 4 p.m. today after reopening at 10 a.m.
This is the first used-book sale in nearly three years, the last one being held in Oct. 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic shut everything down.
Due to the long wait between sales, shoppers were greeted with specials, including the $5 bag where shoppers could fill a large grocery bag with titles for the bargain $5 price tag. Additionally, shoppers selecting four titles could get a fifth title for free.
Selections of adult paperback, adult hardback, children’s books, young adult titles, nonfiction, DVDs, audio books and special books are available for bargain prices, with proceeds to benefit the Lihu‘e Public Library.
Cash donations to the Friends of the Lihu‘e Public Library are also welcomed and appreciated.
Hernandez, floating through shoppers in the various aisles set up by at least a dozen elders from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said his family had just gotten back from “an 218-day nine-state, seven-school trip to the mainland,” where his daughter, Adriana, one of the valedictorians from the Kaua‘i High School Class of 2022, finally decided she will attend Harvard University.
“This has been an amazing journey, considering we’re still dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic,” Sal Hernandez said. “Besides my daughter, there are other students who have persevered through the pandemic to be accepted by some of the most selective schools in the nation, or world. Despite the setbacks of the pandemic, these students were able to stay on course, persevere, and still push through and put themselves in the position to deserve their acceptances.
Some of these students include Aiden Gregerson, who will attend Columbia University, Kai Motley off to Stanford University, Frances Muana being accepted at Georgetown University, Isabella Parsons to Vanderbilt University, Joe Puplava heading to Tufts University, Leilani Goldberg being accepted at Reed College, and Kailee Oyama being accepted at Santa Clara University.
“From what I’ve been told, Adriana is the first admit to Harvard from a Kaua‘i public school since Ms. Candice Iida in the early and mid-1990s from Kapa‘a High School,” Sal Hernandez said. “Ka‘eo Kruse of Kalaheo and Dr. Mehana Vaughn of Kalihiwai also attended Harvard, but they were educated at Kamehameha Schools and Punahou, respectively, since the seventh grade.”
“The biggest takeaway in this process is that anything is achievable,” Sal Hernandez said. “Even for a simple, shy, public-educated girl from Kalaheo.”
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
