A review by panda_incognito
Aloha, Kanani by Lisa Yee
3.0
2.5 stars, rounded up.
I didn't read this Girl of the Year duology when it originally released, and that was a good call. I would have hated it in early 2011, when I was going through the roughest phase of my life. I remember seeing this at the library back then and feeling disdainful about the premise of Kanani making her cousin feel welcome through the power of aloha, because that is a far cry from the very serious issues that other American Girl characters have faced. However, as an adult, I can appreciate that this is a perfectly fine contemporary juvenile chapter book.
Kanani doesn't face any significant hardships in this book, and it is very light on plot and substance. It mainly just involves her welcoming her cousin to the island, dealing with misunderstandings, and helping save an endangered seal. It's the kind of stuff that I would have rolled my eyes at in early 2011, but it's all perfectly fine for the younger target audience. The story cannot live up to classic American Girl content, but the book has good prose, beautiful illustrations, a well-described Hawaiian cultural setting, and positive messages about empathy and family.
I didn't read this Girl of the Year duology when it originally released, and that was a good call. I would have hated it in early 2011, when I was going through the roughest phase of my life. I remember seeing this at the library back then and feeling disdainful about the premise of Kanani making her cousin feel welcome through the power of aloha, because that is a far cry from the very serious issues that other American Girl characters have faced. However, as an adult, I can appreciate that this is a perfectly fine contemporary juvenile chapter book.
Kanani doesn't face any significant hardships in this book, and it is very light on plot and substance. It mainly just involves her welcoming her cousin to the island, dealing with misunderstandings, and helping save an endangered seal. It's the kind of stuff that I would have rolled my eyes at in early 2011, but it's all perfectly fine for the younger target audience. The story cannot live up to classic American Girl content, but the book has good prose, beautiful illustrations, a well-described Hawaiian cultural setting, and positive messages about empathy and family.