May 1, 2021
A tween in Hawaii is challenged to overcome her fear of the ocean. Alex, 12, lives near the ocean in Laie on Oahu, but a traumatic experience has left her unwilling to set foot in the water despite her friends' coaxing. She misses her mom, an intelligence analyst on a Navy submarine, who likes to challenge Alex with fun ciphers and codes. Her latest challenge takes Alex out of her comfort zone; to solve it, she'll have to confront her fears to find the clues her mom has secreted. Alex's busy, mainland-born dad and the Japanese American Tanakas--her mother's hānai, or informal adoptive parents--provide occasional clues, but Alex must work out the answers. While the remarkable Hawaiian landscape, flora and fauna, and cultural features (racial and ethnic particulars excepted) are exhaustively and accurately detailed, the story falls flat. Alex is more tour guide than protagonist, translating Hawaiian and Pidgin words for nonlocal readers and slowing the action to describe or explain points of interest. With four wise adults guiding her, she's seldom at a loss, and it's her desperate struggles alone in the powerful ocean that make readers care. With details unspecified, Alex and her family read as White. The real star of this didactic tale is its alluring setting. (author's note, codes for chapters) (Fiction. 8-12)
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May 1, 2021
Grades 4-7 Swore packs this story about a curious, competitive girl full of moving themes and vivid imagery, and they fit together as neatly as a puzzle box. Alex, 12, lives in Laie on the island of Oahu. Her father teaches high-school math and is a scuba diving instructor, and her mother is a civilian intelligence contractor for the navy and spends a great deal of her time working on a submarine. In her absence, she leaves Alex elaborate puzzles to solve, often recruiting family and friends to hide ciphers and clues (many of which are included in the text). The challenging puzzles range all over Laie, although retrieving some of the clues requires her to struggle with her deep fear of the ocean. When her mother's sub goes silent, Alex's resiliency, strong--mindedness, and intelligence carry her through her worries. Though references to Hawaiian culture and dialects occasionally feel shoehorned in, Swore's descriptions of Alex's anxieties and drive to solve her mother's puzzles ring true, and elements of mystery, ecology, and personal growth give this tightly constructed novel plenty of appeal.
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May 14, 2021
Gr 4-6-Alexis lives in Hawaii with her mother, who is often gone working as a contractor for the navy and cannot always divulge her location to her daughter. In her absence, Alexis's mom leaves cryptic and exciting puzzles for her to solve, as a special activity at the end. But when something happens and her mom might be in danger, Alexis must solve an impossible puzzle and overcome her deep fear of the very thing surrounding her home-the sea. This exciting story features lush descriptions of Hawaii. Short chapters move the plot along at a reasonable pace for younger readers while still giving enough drama and detail for more seasoned fans of realistic fiction. The book also features a hidden code for readers to solve on their own, reminiscent of the ciphers Alexis decodes in the novel. Alexis is cued as white. VERDICT With an intriguing mystery and themes of family (both found and blood) at its heart, this is a good purchase for libraries where juvenile adventure stories and Swore's other works are popular.-Molly Dettmann, Norman North H.S., OK
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