From School Library Journal
Grade 6-10. Wallace has created a fish-out-of-water story by moving a boy and his family from Oklahoma to the Dole pineapple plantation in Hawaii in the 1920s. John Priddle and his parents find life in this tropical paradise strange, albeit beautiful, and discover themselves face to face with racism?of other white Americans against the native Hawaiians and the Asian immigrants working on the plantation. While the challenges of a young teen learning to deal with such hatred, as well as his new feelings toward a pretty Hawaiian girl named Carol (Kalola in Hawaiian), could be a powerful story, this one is average and unexciting. John's voice changes throughout the book?sometimes he uses a slang that is supposed to make him sound midwestern (one guesses). At other times, however, that slang disappears, and when it comes back, it is distracting. The novel begins very slowly, and reluctant readers won't get past the first few pages. James Dole makes a few cameos, but the remaining characters are fictitious. Some teens will enjoy the familiar emotions that John and Carol feel toward one another, and some may be interested in the Hawaiian culture and history. But sadly, there is not much here to hold the interest of most readers.?Dina Sherman, Brooklyn Children's Museum, NY
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
Fourteen-year-old John Priddle didn't want to leave his friends in Oklahoma. But Daddy, a would-be inventor, was offered a job on Mr. Doles pineapple plantation in the Hawaii Territory in 1925. Hawaii was beautiful, but to John it was anything but paradise. He had never felt more alone in his life. Nobody wanted to be his friend. The Hawaiian kids called him haole -- "white guy" -- and wouldn't play with him. Then John met Kalola Pukui -- a girl in his class who was not like anyone he had met before. She knew he was uneasy around girls, so she promised not to be a girl around him -- and proved she could run, fish, and ride better than any boy around. Then she challenged him to take a chance on friendship -- a friendship that would change his life....