Dragonfruit (audiobook)

 Stars: 5 for must have lit in the classroom. 

My Thoughts:

I am excited about this Pasi fika, girl-power fantasy. Finally, a "Moana" for the YA crowd. It is so difficult to find the right fit for middle level and high school students in Pasifika literature, but this is it. Buy this. Read this. Create curriculum around this. Add this to dystopian literature circles. This reminded me of The Golden Compass His Dark Materials in the use of a daemon. This reminded me of Moana in the appearance of a tattoo. There are just too many things that I loved about this book. I cannot give away too much. Suffice it to say, this is a must buy. 

In addition, if you get the audiobook, read by Mapuana Makia, the Hawaiian/Polynesian names, even some of the creole is spot on, which is why I am highlighting the audiobook rather than the written book. 

From the Publisher:

In the old tales, it is written that the egg of a seadragon, dragonfruit, holds within it the power to undo a person’s greatest sorrow. But as with all things that offer hope when hope had gone, the tale came with a warning.

Every wish demands a price.

Hanalei of Tamarind is the cherished daughter of an old island family. But when her father steals a seadragon egg meant for an ailing princess, she is forced into a life of exile. In the years that follow, Hanalei finds solace in studying the majestic seadragons that roam the Nominomi Sea. Until, one day, an encounter with a female dragon offers her what she desires most. A chance to return home, and to right a terrible wrong.

Samahtitamahenele, Sam, is the last remaining prince of Tamarind. But he can never inherit the throne, for Tamarind is a matriarchal society. With his mother ill and his grandmother nearing the end of her reign. Sam is left with two choices: to marry, or to find a cure for the sickness that has plagued his mother for ten long years. When a childhood companion returns from exile, she brings with her something he has not felt in a very long time—hope.

But Hanalei and Sam are not the only ones searching for the dragonfruit. And as they battle enemies both near and far, there is another danger they cannot escape…that of the dragonfruit itself.

Publication Information:

Author: Makiia Lucier

Illustrator: Mapuana Makia

Publisher: Audible.com (April 9, 2024)

Listening length: 8 hours 12 minutes