GREEN MANGO MAGIC

by Sylvia Hossack ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1998

The healing of a wounded child is at the center of this story, whose color and energy come primarily from the Hawaiian setting. Maile lives with her grandmother, Tutu Lady. Her mother, honored by a photograph in a local hotel, was a Hawaiian dancer who died saving others from a tidal wave. Her father has gone to the mainland to work (and to remarry), and her brother is in the Army. Maile, feeling alone and cut off, has two years of her father's letters to her, unopened. Tutu Lady has suggested the ho 'oponopono--the forgiveness that begins healing--but Maile will not speak of her father or her mother. The arrival of Brooke, a girl about Maile's age who is recovering from cancer, begins to melt Maile's resolve; she decides to search out a kahuna--healer--for Brooke. Descriptions of the islands' lushness, a smattering of Hawaiian and pidgin, casual accounts of the making of poi and the capture of a pet pig, and the role of the mangoes of the title create a pretty ambiance, one that may carry readers through even when the story proves pat and predictable: Maile goes from a state of withdrawn misery to one of open forgiveness in a series of easy steps.

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1998

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 116

Publisher: Camelot/Avon

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1998

Categories: CHILDREN'S