Aloha Crossing - Mom's Choice Awards Recipient
Grade 5–7—In this sequel toHello, Goodbye, I Love You(Piñata Pub., 2003), guide dog Aloha is living happily with her partner, Kimberly Louise, on a small island off the Georgia coast. Neither has forgotten Aloha's puppy-raiser, young Diego, and he is thrilled when they invite him to stay for a few weeks. Unfortunately, his visit coincides with a hurricane hitting the island. One snake bite, a lost-and-found Aloha, and lots of broken windows later, everyone lives happily ever after, with Kimberly Louise getting a marriage proposal into the bargain. As in the first book, what might have been a genuinely moving story is marred by wooden dialogue ("It seems that only when I'm with you can I sit still and let contentment wash over me"), clunky information passages dropped into the middle of scenes (such as lengthy, unnatural dialogue passages on the development of Braille), and long tangents (for example, when Kimberly Louise spends nearly two chapters telling the boy about her grandfather being shipwrecked with a dog). Most damaging, however, is the fact that no point of view is fully developed; the narrative stands at arm's-length from every character, and so it is difficult to emotionally invest in any of them. Readers who enjoyed Aloha's first adventure may come aboard for this second one, but it's unlikely that the side trips into history and adult romance will keep them engaged.—Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MDCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.