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A review by livrad
Moloka'i by Alan Brennert
5.0
This is one of my favorite books I have ever read. This was my second time with it, this time reading it aloud to middle grade children, who also found it totally engaging.
Usually they say to "write what you know," and I am a big supporter of "own voices" books. But, chapter after chapter, I am amazed than Brennert is not actually a young Hawaiian girl with leprosy. The book is so vivid in every aspect--the descriptions of the different Hawaiian islands, the culture, the nature of the disease, the characters (even those we only know briefly). In Rachel's story, the reader feels genuine sadness and joy, grief and and freedom.
It is a story that will stay with me perhaps for always, and one I know I will return to periodically.
Usually they say to "write what you know," and I am a big supporter of "own voices" books. But, chapter after chapter, I am amazed than Brennert is not actually a young Hawaiian girl with leprosy. The book is so vivid in every aspect--the descriptions of the different Hawaiian islands, the culture, the nature of the disease, the characters (even those we only know briefly). In Rachel's story, the reader feels genuine sadness and joy, grief and and freedom.
It is a story that will stay with me perhaps for always, and one I know I will return to periodically.