Kaya of the Ocean

By: Gloria L. Huang

Published by Holiday House, Incorporated, 2026-05-12

Anxious thirteen-year-old Kaya has always been afraid of everything--but when she learns she is the descendant of a Chinese water goddess, she'll have to master herself to master her powers!

On the surface, thirteen-year-old Kaya leads a charmed life. She lives in beautiful, beachy Lihiwai. She has ride-or-die best friends. She's ultrasmart and killing it at school. She even works with a super-cute boy at her parents' restaurant.

But she also has anxiety--serious anxiety, the kind that makes you scratch and pick--and she's always had bad luck around the ocean. It's hard to enjoy Hawaiian beaches when you've almost drowned more than once.

But as stranger and stranger things happen to Kaya around the sea, she realizes that--wanted or not--she has a special connection to it. Waves rise when she's angry. Surf smooths when she's calm. Fish come when she calls them. And when she learns the truth about her family and her divine ancestor, Mazu, she knows that she will need to connect with her most difficult emotions ASAP--or her potent powers may become dangerous to the people she loves.

Kaya of the Ocean is an exciting, fresh, and beautiful middle-grade fantasy about embracing who you really are. This heartfelt adventure of sun, surf, and sand touches on mental health, the immigrant experience, and the complexities of growing up.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
An ABA Indies Introduce Selection
"[A] fantastical debut."--Kirkus Reviews