On the lush island of Guam, a U.S. Territory in the Pacific, young brothers Ike 12 and Frankie, 8 begin their summer with adventures at their family lancho, from rescuing a runt piglet, exploring a forbidden WWII cave, bettle-nut and mango picking, to hunting and slaughtering pigs for parties. When a near-fatal moray eel attack lands their widowed father, Daniet in the hospital, he meets a kind American nurse, Michele. Her entry into their lives challenges the family dynamic, forcing the boys to navigate new feelings about loyalty, loss, and what it means to heal.
Widower Daniet and his sons in this story spend their summer at their family ranch in the 1970s. This was a period of significant cultural and developmental transition. The themes of importance of family, respect for culture and traditions, and humanity's relationship with nature are very important. Culturally significant to the indigenous people of Guam also includes recognizing the importance of family, friends, food, fangnginge' (respecting elders), fiestas, fishing, farm animals, and finally enjoying life every day!
Use of the CHamoru language, complete with an extensive glossary makes this fiction chapter novel exciting for children, teenagers, and young adults. In the book, there are three appendices at the end of the novel: Glossary, Villages and Fiestas, and a 15-Chapter Quiz, great for the everyday reader. For the Parents and Educators Edition of this novel, some seven more appendences include the Quiz Answer Key, Books and Publications of Wellein's past writing, a List of some 30-chapter Illustrations, Guam - Then and Now, in addition to an article about the mother (Agnes Atoigue) in the story, based on her real life. There is a section on Biographies and Photos of contributing editors, illustrator, writer, foreword writer, and CHamoru language and culture specialist, and finally an article about reading levels (readability) of the novel, by chapter.
The natural world of Guam is portrayed as both a source of adventure and a place of significant danger. The boys hike through the jungle, swim in the ocean, but they also face threats from a Brown Tree Snake and a Moray Eel. This duality of adventure and danger suggests a theme of respect for nature's power and the need for wisdom when interacting with both, a lesson the boys learn over the three-months of summer. CHamoru culture also places a recurring motif, to include the boys preparing for a village fiesta, building a pigpen, and almost drowning in a mountain stream. Cultural elements are not just background details, but an integral part to the characters' identities and actions, highlighting the value of preserving cultural heritage in a fast-changing world.
Traditional values, self-sufficient CHamoru life, with its pigpens, farm animals, and surrounding jungle, as well as an environment defined by its tropical climate are important. Lush flora, dangerous fauna, and the lingering presence of WWII old munitions and discovered bottles of morphine together with abandoned Imperial Japanese caves (originally used by the indigenous people there during the occupation) reveal communal activities and challenges, to overcome.
