Book Description:
Even though twelve-year-old Alexis was born in Hawaii, she won't surf or
swim with her friends-not since the ocean and its hidden creatures
swept her out to sea. Instead, she grabs her best detective hat and
decodes her mom's latest challenge.
Alex's mom works in
counterintelligence and leaves codes, ciphers, and puzzles behind for
Alex to solve, always with a "treasure" at the end. It's a brilliant
game between them, and Alex loves figuring out her moms
puzzles-especially the tricky ones-but when an emergency at sea puts her
mom in possible danger, solving the next one suddenly feels far more
urgent.
Friends help as Alex races to decipher each clue before
time runs out, but when the trail leads to grumpy old Uncle, his
enormous dog Sarge, and a sea turtle unlike any other, the challenge
changes into something bigger than any before. With storms on the
horizon and lives on the line, Alex must face her fears to solve Mom's
challenge and save those she loves. With her ohana to help, she must be
strong like the sea.
Review:
I've had the privilege of visiting Hawaii a handful times in my life, and reading this story not only brought back so many of those fun memories, but also made me want to go back again soon. I enjoyed getting to know Alex and her ohana. Her mom and dad, yes, but mostly her Uncle Tanaka. He definitely would have intimidated me, so it was extra fun to really get to know him. There are a few different stories interwoven in this book, but they all come together really well at the end. This is a feel-good story, one that shows the reader that you can do hard things (something I tell my kids probably more often than they'd like...) I look forward to passing this story on to my kids and hope they enjoy it as much as I did.
About the Author:
Wendy S. Swore and her family are farmers. She writes part-time, particularly in winter when her farming chores give her time to plant seeds in her imagination. Her debut novel, A Monster Like Me, was the 2019 Gold Winner for Juvenile Fiction from Foreword Reviews. She is a member of SCBWI.
Wendy S. Swore is the author of A Monster Like Me, nominee of the Arizona Grand Canyon Reader Award, the Oklahoma Sequoyah Award and winner of the Foreword Reviews Indie Gold Award for Juvenile Fiction.
Purchase: Amazon Deseret Book
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