Duke Kahanamoku — Laurie Calkhoven

Get to know the father of modern surfing in this fascinating, nonfiction Level 3 Ready-to-Read, part of a new series of biographies about people “you should meet.”

Meet Duke Kahanamoku, three-time Olympic gold medalist and the father of modern surfing. Duke gained international fame for participating in four Olympics and won five medals in total. Fans began calling Duke “the human fish.” Wherever he went, Duke would demonstrate his surfing skills and in 1915, Duke introduced board surfing to Australia. Ten years later, he found another use for a surfboard -- as a lifesaving device -- using it to save eight people from a capsized boat in California!

A special section at the back of the book includes extras like how to speak Hawaiian and a brief history of Hawaii and its culture. With the You Should Meet series, learning about historical figures has never been so fascinating!