In Nikki Van De Car's dazzling blend of myth and magic, The Invisible Wild, a Hawaiian teen who can see menehune endeavors to stop construction that endangers the forest spirits' sacred home.
Part-Hawaiian Emma Arruda, 16, and her family are busy preparing their Big Island home for her sister's wedding. Their chores, however, seem to be undone overnight. Emma, who has grown to believe that she imagined speaking to spirits as a child, is the one to catch the culprit: a strong, three-foot-tall man--a menehune. The being of legend leads her to a plot of 25 "miraculously pristine," "gorgeous acres" recently purchased by a developer. A bulldozer has already leveled many of its 'ōhi'a trees and hāpu'u (giant ferns). The menehune's community lives under all the destruction: "We have a sacred duty here," Koa, the menehune, explains. "We protect this forest, and we cannot leave it." Staying, however, will mean their deaths. Emma, unable to stop the construction, attempts to convince the menehune community to abandon a duty (kuleana) she doesn't understand.
Emma's forthright first-person narrative exudes a love for her Big Island home; her inextinguishable desire to help the menehune is part of her deep celebration of her Hawaiian identity, as well as her fear that a tradition and way of life is being erased. Van De Car's wondrous and magical YA debut cherishes Hawai'i's every day, developing a stunning atmosphere through creation chants, a pālila's "bubbly warble," mist "like the breath of an unseen dragon," and heaps of haupia (a coconut dessert). The Invisible Wild is altogether enthralling, hopeful, and great fun. --Samantha Zaboski, freelance editor and reviewer