Today's Blog Tour Stops are:
1)Guest Post at Ginger-Read Reviews
2) Review at Girl in the Woods Reviews
Hop on over and see what you think! :D
Welcome to the Read and Review Hop, hosted by Anya of On Starships and Dragonwings!
One Boy No Water Book Review
When old Uncle Kahana and his poi dog 'Ilima find a newborn with a funny birthmark abandoned on a reef in Hawaii, he soon finds out just how special the child is: the boy is allergic to water. One drop on his skin and it's like water on a white hot skillet; his allergies also make eating anything raw from the sea or rare meat impossible, which is simply absurd for an island dweller. Strangely, the boy's peculiar allergies lead Uncle Kahana to believe this child is 'ohana-family-and doesn't have to work too hard to convince his niece and her family to adopt and give him a name-Alexander Kanoakai Westin, or "Zader" for short. If only the rest of Zader's life were so easy! On the surface, despite his unusual allergies, Zader is an average eleven year old boy with typical challenges of fitting in with his peers, getting into a good prep school, and maintaining his relationship with his surfing crazed brother. In reality, Zader is Niuhi, a shark with the ability to turn into a person. As he matures and begins to adapt to his "allergies" in ways that make it easier to live a normal life, Zader's world begins to turn upside down-he will not only have to come to terms with who he is, but what he is.
Other than his peculiar medical condition, Zader is a fairly normal kid. He has to deal with bullies, family drama, worries about his identity, and physical limitations. But the more he hangs out with his loveable-but-somewhat-loony uncle, and helps his brother and best friend deal with a shark encounter, it begins to look like Zader is more than an average boy. He may be something special that came from the sea.
I don't usually read middle grade fiction. It's just not my genre of choice. But this was written by my good friend and fellow JFP author, Lehua Parker, so I decided to dive in.
The book is delightfully written to reflect the cultural vernacular of the islands. It does take some getting used to, but as long as I just let the dialogue flow and didn't think too hard about it, I found it easy to understand and fun to read.
The story is simplistic, but it's perfect for the target audience. Z has to overcome issues many kids deal with, including disappointment and other emotions that most kids feel during their years of growing pains. This book would be great for any kid struggling with overcoming something or bettering themselves in some way.
If I had any complaints, it would be that it felt like it ended in the middle of the story! I SO wanted more! I can't wait for book 2 to come out so I can continue the saga of Z's path to self-realization. Nice work, Auntie Lehua. Nice work. :D
Thoughts for Thursday
 |
| 123rf stock photo/devor |
Readers may respond by either commenting on the quotes I put forward or contributing a quote of their own. Leave it in the comments or a link to your quote in the linky. Whoever comes up with the best one will get some swag and be entered to win a bigger prize later on!
Just have fun, collect awesome sayings by awesome people, and try to be inspired!
In honor of my the release of my debut novel, Persistence of Vision, this week's theme is Dystopia!
"To say 'I love you' one must first be able to say 'I.'--Ayn Rand
"In the old days he had hidden a heretical mind beneath an appearance of conformity."--George Orwell, 1984
"For other nations, [dys]topia is a blessed past never to be recovered; for Americans it is just beyond the horizon."--Henry A. Kissinger
"There are no such things. All passion is lost now. The world is mediocre, limp, without force. And madness and despair are a force. And force is a crime in the eyes of fools...Everybody is mediocre. Madness and despair! Give me that for a lever, and I'll move the world."--Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent
"Potentially, a government is the most dangerous threat to man's rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims."--Ayn Rand
What do you think? Do you have a favorite dystopia quote? Which of the above speaks to you? Personally my favorite is the Joseph Conrad one. How about you?
Great quotes. I liked the ones by Rand the best.
ReplyDeleteOne Boy No Water sounds like a fun read!
One Boy No Water sounds like a sweet story! I'm curious if they address how he gets enough water to drink to survive though? Since it seems like that would be a problem... though if he is magical maybe he is an exception in many ways ;-)
ReplyDeleteSounds cute...though I admit that I hate it when books end in the middle of the story. I understand that people want to have sequels and such, but a good writer can figure out a way to finish the major threads of a story for each book (at least at the very beginning of a series).
ReplyDeleteInteresting concept, as nearly all life on Earth is dependent on water to some extent, including humans and sharks. As a biologist, I would be curious to see how the author played out that allergy.
ReplyDelete