The Invisible Wild
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
An epic adventure steeped in Hawaiian lore, this enchanting novel explores the connection between our world and that of the spirits of the wood, from bestselling author Nikki Van De Car.
According to legend, when the kanaka 'ōiwi sailed over two thousand miles across untraveled seas to the most remote island chain in the world, they encountered another people living there. They were two to three feet tall, squat and strong, good and kind, and bothered no one without cause—they were the Menehune. When the Hawaiians came, the menehune chieftains feared the changes they brought. So, on the night of a full moon, they called all men and their firstborn sons and ordered them to leave Hawai’i. Some refused and, instead, hid behind to remain with their families. In the early 1800s, Kauai chief Kaumaualiʻi took a census of his people—and 65 of his 2,000 subjects were all that remained of the original people of Hawai’i.
Flash forward to today: sixteen-year-old Emma is out running errands when she comes across a boy from Hilo living in the woods, saying things that do not make sense. It’s here, in these woods, that Emma has memories of finding a space between “the worlds” as a child. She soon realizes this boy has accessed the place she lost, as well as the people, the Menehune. She helps him hide until whatever spell has been cast over him is broken. Together, Emma and the Hilo boy have to figure out what the Menehune want before it’s too late to save the only home any of them have known.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
On the Big Island of Hawaii in the rainforest town of Volcano, everyone knows everyone, and teenage Emma Arruda is embroiled in preparations for her older sister's wedding a month away. While running errands in her mother's car, Emma almost hits a teenager from the nearby city of Hilo; she later finds him disheveled, speaking strangely, and sleeping outdoors. She soon realizes that the stranger, whom she dubs Hilo, can see menehune, woodland spirit creatures that Emma remembers from her childhood. Hilo reawakens Emma's buried ability to communicate with the menehune, who inform her that Hilo's been bewitched for desecrating an ‘ō‘hi‘a tree and must make amends by protecting the forest, acres of which have been sold for a tourist development in Volcano. Helping Hilo complete his mission becomes even more complicated when Emma learns that his father is one of the workers destroying the forests. Van De Car (My Wheel of the Year) intersperses Hawaiian folktales, climate change issues, facts about lava and rainforest habitats, and other informative details throughout this emotion-driven novel. Sensorial prose additionally highlights the protagonist's struggles navigating Hilo's high-stakes mission alongside personal challenges relating to cultural identity. Ages 13–up.
