Wendy S. Swore in her recently released middle grade novel Strong Like the Sea, makes her setting almost like another character. Alex was born in Hawaii to an atypical family. Her mother works on a submarine in counterintelligence which means she is often away while her father is the parent who stays at home with a more normal working schedule as a teacher. In fact, schedule may be the most important thing to him with little room for working anything unplanned into it. Even her extended family is different with her paternal grandparents on the mainland, and her grumpy Uncle and peacekeeping Auntie who raised her mother serving a grandparent-like role for her on the islands.
Each time her mother has an away assignment, she uses her own skills with codes, ciphers, and puzzles to leave a puzzle for Alex to solve while she is gone with some treasure as a reward at the end. Alex faces other challenges in Uncle’s enormous slobbery dog Sarge and the sea turtle he has saved and in the school challenge where she wants to win awards in science and history to earn a spot on the same wall where her mother excelled before her. Then there is Alex’s fear of the ocean that brings on panic attacks that set her apart in Hawaii. Whether her courage or her fear will win out is tested when communication with her mother’s submarine stops and Uncle faces real danger that only she can help in the ocean. This is an excellent family story for middle graders who enjoy puzzles and uncertainty.
In case you get concerned about its reality, as I do, when culture and place carry such a strong role in a novel, the author’s note with her list of expert readers and the glossary give ample assurance that Wendy has done due diligence in making her work authentic. I will address this issue in my next blog post.