Elmo’s having a birthday

Celebrate Elmo’s birthday next Saturday with music, stories, crafts and more at Borders Pearlridge. Festivities kick off at 2 p.m. The program is designed for children ages 3 to 6. Unfortunately, Elmo will not be able to attend in person. Call 487-1818 for more details.

Isle tour marks singer’s debut

New Zealand singer Maisey Rika will make her debut tour of Hawaii next month with an assist from Hawaii slack-key master George Kahumoku Jr.

The four-time Maori Music Award winner will appear March 3 with Kahumoku at Hawaii Public Radio’s Atherton Studio, and at a March 12 concert at theVenue in Chinatown, where she’ll also be joined by Kaumakaiwa Kanaka’ole. Both performances are at 7:30 p.m.

Additional tour dates on Maui and the Big Island will be announced later.

Some have described Rika’s sound, which fuses English and Maori lyrics, as similar to Tracey Chapman or Sade, "with a splash of India Arie," according to promoters Tim Bostock Productions and HPR.

Tickets for the March 3 event are $25 general admission, $20 for HPR members, $15 for students; call 955-8821.

For the March 12 concert, tickets are $15 pre-sale, $20 at the door; buy online at www.brownpapertickets.com.

LCC is the stage for Shakespeare

An array of Shakespearean events will be offered during Leeward Community College’s "Semester of Shakespeare," which kicks off Thursday with "Adapting Shakespeare for the Modern Stage and Audience." The lecture will be presented by actor and director Reb Beau Allen at 10:30 a.m. in classroom GT-105.

Jonathan Reyn will present a "Costume Design for a Midsummer Night’s Dream" workshop from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m. March 14 in the campus theater, and Shakespearean actor and teacher Jennifer Robideau will discuss "Shakespeare and the Acting Business" from noon to 1:15 p.m. March 15 in GT-105.

The event culminates with "A Midsummer Day’s Dream" performance by Leeward Community College drama students and instructors from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 21 in the Eucalyptus Courtyard. Displays depicting concepts relating to Shakespeare’s time will be displayed, and campus arts and humanities faculty will perform music of the era during the festivities.

All events are free and open to the public. Contact Susan Lum at 455-0355.

Students vie for book fair honor

Scholastic Book Fairs, a division of Scholastic, is seeking student authors in grades K to 8 in the U.S. for its annual book-writing contest.

Students in peer groups of three or more at each school are invited to create their own books under an adult as project coordinator. That adult can be a teacher, teacher’s aide, parent or librarian.

Entries must be postmarked by March 15.

Two grand prize winners — one for fiction and one for nonfiction — will be selected by a panel of authors and publishing experts based on factors such as originality, content and quality of artwork.

Winners receive $5,000 Scholastic Book Fairs voucher for their school, in addition to 100 copies of their book printed professionally, a medal and framed commemorative certificate. Winning books are also published and distributed nationwide through Scholastic Book Fairs.

Twenty-five runner-up schools receive $500 in merchandise and certificates of merit.

More information is available at scholastic.com/kidsareauthors.

Forum discusses costs of isle life

"What do we value about our home, and what prices have we all paid or are willing to pay to continue living here?"

Those are some of the questions to be discussed by the authors of "The Price of Paradise and the Value of Hawai’i: Knowing the Past, Shaping the Future" at a free event from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Feb. 28 at the Art Auditorium on the University of Hawaii-Manoa campus.

The community discussion on the economy, isle history, law, education, social services and native Hawaiian issues will feature David Callies, Randall Roth, Susan Chandler, Deane Neubauer and Jon Osorio.

Visit thevalueofhawaii.com.

Classmates join marrow drive

The Kamehameha Schools Class of 1977 has banded together to help find a bone marrow donor for classmate Natalie Oana, who was diagnosed with acute leukemia.

Organizers said Operation Kokua Nat Oana was established since native Hawaiians have only a 3 percent chance of finding a match. The drive is intended to increase the number of registered donors of native Hawaiian and other ethnicities.

The drive will be held during Kamehameha School’s hoolaulea from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Kapalama campus.

Donors must be between the ages of 18 and 60 and in good health. Registration takes less than 10 minutes and requires a quick swab of the inner cheek. To learn about becoming a donor, call 547-6154.

Contest showers love on teachers

Students can express their appreciation of their teachers by entering the Barnes & Noble "My Favorite Teacher" contest. Teachers from grades kindergarten to 12 are eligible for nomination.

Students may submit essays, poems or thank-you notes that demonstrate how a teacher has influenced their life or why they are appreciated. Submissions should be sent to the Kahala store for consideration. Entries will be judged based on the teacher’s qualities, the sincerity of the entry and quality of the writing.

Winning teachers will be entered into a regional contest. Six regional winners will be selected and receive a Nook eBook reader and a $500 Barnes & Noble gift card. One winner will be named "My Favorite Teacher" and receive $5,000.

Deadline for submissions is March 18. Visit www.bn.com/myfavoriteteacher for more information.