A beautiful celebration of Hawai‘i, including family, community, history, and the land.
A girl tries to make things better with the help of a little magic but only makes her life more complicated.
Clara grew up moving all over the U.S. thanks to her mother’s military job, but following her parents’ divorce, she’s lived with Tūtū, her grandmother, on the island of O‘ahu in Hawai‘i. She’s happy there, but recent family tension over her dad’s move to Arizona has been stressful. Worse, her best friend, Leo, ditched her at the beginning of sixth grade. One night, lonely Clara asks a question of her family’s heirloom ‘umeke, a special wooden bowl: “What are boys thinking?” On the school bus the next morning, she discovers that she can hear the boys’ thoughts. Clara tries to use her new power to solve her friendship problems (for example, getting Leo’s friends to stop teasing her), but she causes more trouble for everyone. Vowing to fix everything before Dad moves her to Phoenix, Clara learns, with the guidance of trusted adults, to truly listen and open up to different perspectives. She forges new friendships and unearths feelings about her home and the family she’ll be leaving behind. This heartfelt story centers around listening both to others and your own heart. Clara and new friend Pua struggle with belonging; both girls are Native Hawaiian but grew up on the mainland. ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i, the Hawaiian language, is woven throughout the text, which captures the rhythms of local speech.
A beautiful celebration of Hawai‘i, including family, community, history, and the land. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 14, 2024
ISBN: 9780063045354
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and...
Catrina narrates the story of her mixed-race (Latino/white) family’s move from Southern California to Bahía de la Luna on the Northern California coast.
Dad has a new job, but it’s little sister Maya’s lungs that motivate the move: she has had cystic fibrosis since birth—a degenerative breathing condition. Despite her health, Maya loves adventure, even if her lungs suffer for it and even when Cat must follow to keep her safe. When Carlos, a tall, brown, and handsome teen Ghost Tour guide introduces the sisters to the Bahía ghosts—most of whom were Spanish-speaking Mexicans when alive—they fascinate Maya and she them, but the terrified Cat wants only to get herself and Maya back to safety. When the ghost adventure leads to Maya’s hospitalization, Cat blames both herself and Carlos, which makes seeing him at school difficult. As Cat awakens to the meaning of Halloween and Day of the Dead in this strange new home, she comes to understand the importance of the ghosts both to herself and to Maya. Telgemeier neatly balances enough issues that a lesser artist would split them into separate stories and delivers as much delight textually as visually. The backmatter includes snippets from Telgemeier’s sketchbook and a photo of her in Día makeup.
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and unable to put down this compelling tale. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-54061-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
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