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Informationen zum Autor Malia Maunakea is a part-Hawaiian writer who grew up in the rainforest on the Big Island before moving to a valley on O?ahu in seventh grade. She relocated to the continent for college, and when she isn’t writing can be found roaming the Colorado Rocky Mountains with her husband, their two children, and a rescue mutt named Peggy. You can find Malia online at maliamaunakea.com and @MaliaMaunakea on Twitter. Klappentext Malia Maunakea's thrilling Hawaiian debut—now in paperback! Curses aren't real. At least, that's what twelve-year-old, part-Hawaiian Anna Leilani Kama?ehu thinks when she listens to her grandmother's folktales about sacred flowers and family guardians. Anna's friends back home in Colorado don't believe in legends, either. They're more interested in science and sports—real, tangible things that stand in total contrast to Anna’s family’s embarrassing stories. So when Anna goes back to Hawai?i to visit her Tutu, she has no interest in becoming the heir to her family’s history; she’s set on having a touristy, fun vacation. But when Anna accidentally insults Pele the fire goddess by destroying her lehua blossom, a giant hawk swoops in and kidnaps her best friend, and she quickly learns just how real these mo?olelo are. In order to save her friends and family, Anna must now battle mythical creatures, team up with demigods and talking bats, and evade the traps Pele hurls her way. For if Anna hopes to undo the curse, she will have to dig deep into her Hawaiian roots and learn to embrace all of who she is. Leseprobe Curses aren’t real. Anna repeated the mantra to herself as she spotted Tutu on the far side of the Hilo airport terminal. “Leilani!” her grandma called as she made her way down the escalator. The big, smiley wrinkles around her tutu’s eyes and mouth had multiplied since last summer. Anna mustered up a weak grin, trying to hide her crankiness. She had asked her grandma not to call her by her middle name the last time she was here. But her grandma had just said, “Pah, you don’t even know what Anna means, why would you want to be called that?” Then her best-friend-in-Hawai?i, Kaipo, had whispered, “I told you it wouldn’t work.” Anna groaned because she had to buy him a pack of dried cuttlefish for losing their bet. She waved at her grandma but stood firmly planted atop the escalator, instead of rushing down like she normally did. She needed time to go over her plan—?a plan she’d tried to come up with when she wasn’t staring at a tiny movie screen on the two planes it took to get to Hawai?i from Colorado. It was all part of the deal Tutu struck with her parents when Anna was too young to have any say. Mom had a job offer that let her use her physics degree at a climate-?research company in Boulder, and though they were reluctant to leave their home in the islands, they’d be able to afford a better quality of life in Colorado with the income Mom’s new job promised. Tutu was crushed that her only grandchild was being taken so far away, so she made her son and daughter-in-law swear to send Anna back to visit her for just shy of a month every year so she “wouldn’t forget her history.” Tutu claimed to have tried to teach it to her son, Anna’s dad, but for all his writing out of the family tree, he said he just couldn’t remember their roots. So it was up to Anna to memorize the stories. To become the keeper of the mo?olelo. She was twelve now and knew—?KNEW!—Tutu was gonna make a big deal about what that meant in their family. It was annoying, having these random extra responsibilities attached to an even randomer birthday. Thirteen? Sure. Finally becoming a teen was pretty massive. Or better yet, sixteen and having extra responsibilities that go along with being allowed to drive. But twelve? Random. Even more annoying was how her parents had ...
