Thirteen-year-old Kaya Song has long been excellent at compartmentalizing whenever something feels strange or scary: “I forced myself to shove the whole mess to the corner of my mind, where so much of my pain was boxed up and stored for another day.”
It works, to some extent. The tween’s life in Lihiwai, Maui, is in many ways idyllic. She has caring friends; earns excellent grades; indulges in favorite pastimes like reading and drinking boba; and gets to work with friendly, cute Taiyo when she helps out at her parents’ Chinese restaurant.
Nonetheless, in debut author Gloria L. Huang’s fantastical, heartfelt coming-of-age tale Kaya of the Ocean, Kaya’s “anxiety [is] so severe that my skin was raw and red from washing and scratching, that my mind was always filled with worries and my heart filled with dread.”
Fear of water is central to Kaya’s anxiety, exacerbated by the fact that Maui is, well, an island, and Kaya’s friends are avid surfers. As Kaya of the Ocean opens, they’ve convinced her to join them at a secret cove. She and Taiyo stick to “baby waves,” but a giant yellowfin tuna knocks Taiyo off his surfboard and Kaya must rescue him. Less traumatizing, but no less weird is when, at home, the water in a drinking glass seems to move toward her. What is going on?
Fortunately, Kaya’s aunt is visiting from New York City and may have answers. She’s researched their family history, which includes an ancient Chinese water goddess named Mazu. Could Kaya’s anxiety and water-based goings-on be something else altogether?
Huang employs vivid flashbacks (to China in 1629 and 1949, and San Francisco in 1876) plus a cascade of present-day revelations as she unfurls the surprising truth about Kaya’s connection to Mazu. “I couldn’t help feeling optimistic that things could change. That I could change,” Kaya muses. Her gradual willingness to talk about her feelings, trust herself and believe she deserves the support she needs will resonate with readers on their own journey to self-confidence, magic-infused or otherwise.
