Liliha, 12, is sent to the Kalaupapa Leprosy Colony on the island of Molokai toward the end of the 19th century. Life for most of the lepers is a dog-eat-dog existence with the strongest members in control of the distribution of the scant food, shelter, and care because there is no conscientious and caring superintendent. (Before religious leaders exemplified by Father Damien came to the island in 1873, basic human needs were absent except for the help of a few good souls.) When the occasional sailing craft arrives with supplies and new patients, only the strong are able to grab the food and distribute it as they see fit. Liliha, ever strong and inventive, develops methods to extend the meager supplies by fishing, carving bowls, spoons, and other items to trade. Eventually, she is victorious over her enemy, an older woman in an advanced stage of the disease, who has ruled the place with unbelievably cruel and destructive acts designed to cement her power. Since the groundwork is not well established, readers may wonder what causes Liliha to become a Christian, showing mercy and love—even to her enemy—at the conclusion. This could have been a stronger story had the characters of the good, especially the protagonist, not been quite so good, and the characters of the bad, not quite so bad. But the setting and the details of the terrible disease when there were no remedies except exclusion will hold readers, who will empathize with the characters and root for Liliha and her friends, although they know that she will die a terrible death. Contains a map (not seen), a list of Hawaiian words, and a full and interesting historical note. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-399-23855-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2002
Illegal immigrant sisters learn a lot about themselves when their family faces deportation in this compelling contemporary drama. Immigrants from Bangladesh, Nadira, her older sister Aisha and their parents live in New York City with expired visas. Fourteen-year-old Nadira describes herself as “the slow-wit second-born” who follows Aisha, the family star who’s on track for class valedictorian and a top-rate college. Everything changes when post-9/11 government crack-downs on Muslim immigrants push the family to seek asylum in Canada where they are turned away at the border and their father is arrested by U.S. immigration. The sisters return to New York living in constant fear of detection and trying to pretend everything is normal. As months pass, Aisha falls apart while Nadira uses her head in “a right way” to save her father and her family. Nadira’s need for acceptance by her family neatly parallels the family’s desire for acceptance in their adopted country. A perceptive peek into the lives of foreigners on the fringe. (endnote) (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2006
ISBN: 1-4169-0351-8
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Ginee Seo/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2005
The wish-fulfilling title and sun-washed, catalog-beautiful teens on the cover will be enticing for girls looking for a...
Han’s leisurely paced, somewhat somber narrative revisits several beach-house summers in flashback through the eyes of now 15-year-old Isabel, known to all as Belly.
Belly measures her growing self by these summers and by her lifelong relationship with the older boys, her brother and her mother’s best friend’s two sons. Belly’s dawning awareness of her sexuality and that of the boys is a strong theme, as is the sense of summer as a separate and reflective time and place: Readers get glimpses of kisses on the beach, her best friend’s flirtations during one summer’s visit, a first date. In the background the two mothers renew their friendship each year, and Lauren, Belly’s mother, provides support for her friend—if not, unfortunately, for the children—in Susannah’s losing battle with breast cancer. Besides the mostly off-stage issue of a parent’s severe illness there’s not much here to challenge most readers—driving, beer-drinking, divorce, a moment of surprise at the mothers smoking medicinal pot together.
The wish-fulfilling title and sun-washed, catalog-beautiful teens on the cover will be enticing for girls looking for a diversion. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: May 5, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4169-6823-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2009
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