Both 12-year-old Sara and her 13-year-old brother, Sam, have trouble adjusting to Hawaii during the five months that their family is living there. It's beautiful but alien, unfriendly, isolated, and a million miles from their home in Boston. When Sara and Sam rescue a wild cat (who is later named Broccoli), they meet Eddie Nutt. At first Eddie is as suspicious and untrusting as Broccoli until the bonds of friendship gradually develop. The story unfolds through Sara's cassette tapes sent to her teacher and classmates back home. Events and characters are revealed through Sara's perceptive and touching account of events. The pain of the death of her grandmother, and later Broccoli's death, are not dissimilar, Sara discovers, to the loss that Eddie has experienced. Sara, Sam, and Eddie learn that love can be rewarding as well as painful. The fact that Sara's narration is addressed to her friends and teacher lends an immediacy and conversational tone which moves the story quickly. Characterization unfolds as quickly, remaining plausible and consistent throughout. Difficult themes are handled with sensitivity and humor to create a realistic and unusual contemporary novel. --Maria B. Salvadore, District of Columbia Public Library Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.