My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This story is both intriguing and shocking. I learned a lot about a situation that occurred in Hawaii just after World War 2, which, I would imagine, will surprise most people. The author uses George, a young teenage boy, as the messenger for readers to find out about Hansen’s Disease which is more commonly called leprosy. George is involved in a madcap dash between the Hawaiian islands of Molokai and Maui, when he is desperately trying to find his parents and his best friend Jonathan. The pace of the story is almost breath-taking and the number of different people he encounters, young and old, good and bad, can leave your head spinning. George rides a Tsunami and even learns how to cut sugar cane when he is desperate to earn money. All of this action is suitably gripping as are the conversations between characters for a story aimed at children who are around the same age as George, 13 years old. Having said that, the book is equally gripping for anyone unaware of the terrible restrictions that were imposed on the unfortunate population, and who had to live with the disease at that time. I particularly liked the meetings between George and Jonathan as the author’s skilful writing had the language and banter just about right. But while this adventure story is exciting it is also very sad, with some important educational points.
The story has a satisfying ending. It also includes some factual details about the disease and a historical context to add to the information in a kind of simple appendix. Unfortunately, there were a couple of glaring editing errors that should have been spotted before publication. One in particular was the wrong year on the Civil Arrest Warrant for Jonathan and Alice Napua: it wrongly said 1846 rather than 1946. Notwithstanding this I can highly recommend Escape to Molokai to youngsters who like a fast paced adventure story with lots of excitement.
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