Dear Haiti, Love Alaine
By Barbara Saunders,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Teen seeks to end family curse in hilarious, moving tale.
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What's the Story?
When DEAR HAITI, LOVE ALAINE begins, 17-year-old Alaine is living a relatively unremarkable senior year at a Catholic school for gifted children. She's finishing up college applications, navigating school cliques, and managing the evolving relationships with her divorced parents. Two dramatic incidents shake that up. First, her journalist mom slaps a senator during a TV interview and decamps to Haiti hoping things will blow over. Then, Alaine gets a little too creative during a school presentation about legendary pig sacrifice before the Haitian revolution: Fake pig blood made from gelatin splatters around the classroom sends a classmate into anaphylactic shock. The school agrees not to expel her. Alaine will spend the next term in Haiti, interning in her aunt's startup, PATRON PAL, maker of an app that lets donors support needy Haitian children. Before she leaves, Alaine learns that her mother has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. When she arrives in Haiti, her mom's diaries reveal the history of the family curse, setting Alaine on a quest to end it.
Is It Any Good?
This hilarious and moving book is a page turner. Written by sisters Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite, Dear Haiti, Love Alaine has three great strengths. First, the narrator's voice is extremely compelling. She's a believable precocious teen. Readers can't help but root for her. Second, the language is original and strong. Finally, the novel provides a lot of laughs that come from a deep sense of humor, not just funny lines or scenes. The end is very satisfying and ties up ends the reader might not even realize were loose.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how caregiving is presented in Dear Haiti, Love Alaine. Alaine and her aunt act as caregivers for Alaine's mom, who has Alzheimer's disease. Has anyone in your family had to care for a sick or aging loved one?
What did you think about the way the author used text messages, postcards, and letters to tell parts of the story?
How are Alaine's relationships with her mother, her aunt, her father, and her teachers different? How does each of those relationships help Alaine grow?
Do you think the curse on Alaine's family was real?
Book Details
- Authors: Maika Moulite , Maritza Moulite
- Genre: Coming of Age
- Topics: Magic and Fantasy , Adventures , Great Girl Role Models , History
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Inkyard Press
- Publication date: July 13, 2019
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 13 - 18
- Number of pages: 432
- Available on: Paperback, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
- Last updated: June 4, 2020
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