THE LAST PRINCESS
The Story of Princess Ka'iulani of Hawai'i
by Fay Stanley & illustrated by Diane Stanley
Third in line for the throne when she was born in 1875 to the younger sister of Princess (later Queen) Lili'uokalani and the Scottish Archibald Cleghorn, Ka'iulani's short life was dominated by the dissolution of the Hawaiian monarchy. Her happy childhood came to an end when her mother died in 1887; sent to school in England, it took two weeks for her to learn that American marines had forced her aunt to give up the throne. At 17, Ka'iulani traveled to Washington to intervene for her people, butdespite a sympathetic hearing from President Clevelandto little avail; back in Hawaii by the time of formal annexation, she caught pneumonia a few months later, dying at 23. The artist's mother reports this brief life with simple dignity; but most compelling here are Diane Stanley's well- researched, jewel-bright paintings, her carefully delineated figures, stiff as old photos, deployed against a wealth of pattern and landscape. Attractive; informative. Note on the Hawaiian language; bibliography. (Biography. 7-10)