I will always love this book. I saw it at my school's book fair in first grade and thought it was a picture book. I liked the bright colors and surfing kids, so I had my mom buy it for me along with another Magic Tree House: Dolphins at Daybreak, which my parents helped me read. Then I moved on to High Tide in Hawaii. Sixty pages. Ten chapters with a picture on each beginning page. It took me an entire week of reading by lamplight. Some of the words were hard. It took me a long time to figure out the Jack was laughing, not "lugging." Now, what exactly does a lug sound like? And the author's name, I discovered, was not "Mary Pop."But I did get through it. That was the first chapter book I ever read on my own. A couple of months later, I had to pick out a take-home reading book from my teacher's learning to read shelf. I was supposed to select from my reading level. But there was Lions at Lunchtime, several levels above what I was supposed to read.I took it anyways.Next year, I told my mom about this wonderful series and she decided we needed to take a trip to the library. I tried to protest. The library only had kids books, I said, and grown-up books. Not these kinds of books. I was surprised to discover that the shelves to the right of the picture book area didn't house adult books. No, that's where MY books lived. I began checking them out five at a time. There were only forty or so then, so it didn't take me long to get through them all. Except for Good Morning Gorillas. I held off on that one. I knew if I read that one, it would be all finished. And what would I do then?I turned around. There were these other books, small, colorful, and abundant, just like the Magic Tree House books. I'd seen kids carrying them around at school. They were called Junie B. Jones. So I mixed Junie in with Jack and Annie. And I just have to say, What kind of idiot puts a second grade series on the top shelf? I had to climb the shelves because the one stool in the library was always by the drinking fountain. I wasn't going to put my Magic Tree House books (bottom shelf, thank you very much) on the floor so I could lug that stupid stool halfway across the library. After Junie B., I discovered the Cam Jansen series on the other side of the Magic Tree House shelf. Then the Bailey School Kids. And from there, I read "anything I can get my hands on," as Jack describes himself in Tornado on Tuesday. Why can I still remember exact lines?At the end of second grade, we had to create a visual aid for our book reports. The girl next to me had drawn a picture of Junie B. thinking about chocolate milk in the first book. I'd spent three hours creating a model of Harry and Voldemort dueling in the Goblet of Fire. Which is slightly bigger than Junie B. Jones. Eight years later and I'm still secretly pleased about that.Thank you, Mary Pope Osborne, for turning me into a reader!
My 1st grader read this yesterday. He's been reading a Magic Treehouse book a day lately. I wanted to make sure he was actually reading and understanding, so I gave this a quick read too. I've read the first few, then jumped to here, so I wasn't aware of Morgan, or the search for "magic" going on later in the series. He and I "discussed" the book and I'm happy to report I think he's doing great on his comprehension!SUMMARY: The book addresses how Hawaii was formed (by a Volcano), with birds and wind bringing seeds. Jack and Annie meet a couple of friends and are exposed to some traditional Hawaiian items (poi, hula, etc.) They surf (I really don't think Annie would have been able to get up on her first try, and seriously, some of the adventures these little kids get into, I know it's just pretend but I'm not going to let my 7 year old do anything CLOSE to what these kids do with no adult supervision). Gotta throw a little danger in, there is an earthquake, which causes a Tsunami. Jack saves the day by reading about it in his book and warning everyone to run.The kids had been sent to build a ship ... turns out it was friendSHIP. *Ü* Awwwwww.My son and I took the quiz someone created (and got 100%).
What do You think about High Tide In Hawaii (2010)?
Once again, I learn something new from the MTH. I never knew hula was a way of telling stories for Hawaiians. Or that surfing came from Polynsians (hope I spelled that right). In this story, Jack and Annie learn this and a lot more. They ate natural fruit and learned about Tsunamis and that back in the days, Hawaiians had no written word so they could not read. Osborne makes Hawaii seem like a Paradise formed from natures wonders. It's incredible the kind of close knit culture developed in Hawaii from being such an isolated part of the world.
—Rubi
Sean stopped reading the series with Thanksgiving on a Thursday but we had the next book checked out as well. I read High Tide in Hawaii on my own because I hate to return library books unread.In High Tide in Hawaii Jack and Annie travel to Hawaii to either an island or a time when the Hawaiians are still living by traditional means. While there they learn how to surf and how to hula. They also survive a tsunami and save the villagers.As it happened, I read the book right around the same time I was reading Nation by Terry Pratchett. Although the two cover the same subject, different cultures coming together in the face of a tsunami, Nation's approach seems more even handed and well thought out. Of course Nation has about three times as many pages to tell its story but I really wanted more out of High Tide in Hawaii.The problem is there's just too much going on in too few pages. The book suffers from the same problems as most of the other books where Jack and Annie meet people. The people are there happily living in their own little bubble unaware of the world outside of their existence. Now that might not be how Osborne imagined these characters but that's how they come across. Unfortunately this typically happens in places that have a history of colonization. I don't know if it's to avoid that unsavory topic or if it's just to keep things simple. The result though is yet another "noble savage" to teach Jack and Annie some sort of life lesson which they can then pass onto Morgana or Arthur or Merlin, etc. It quickly becomes tiresome.
—Sarah Sammis
It isn't deep reading by any toss of the coin, but I enjoyed this story. Went over to my nephews for dinner and while waiting I asked his 7 year old son "I need something to read, what would you suggest?" He offered up this book. So, I was taken on a ridiculously fun ride! I had never read any of these books but had seen and heard of them. This particular story takes me to old Hawaii and I learn about the hula, friendship, tsunami's, surfing and the everyday magic of each. At the end of the book a little history lesson is given. I am sure these books have been reviewed and commented upon in the thousands, here is one more offered opinion. A great read for the right age group... and for those beyond.
—pdarnold
