Calvin Coconut: Trouble Magnet

by Salisbury, Graham

• ISBN13: 9780375846007
• ISBN10: 037584600X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-04-27
• Publisher: Yearling

Summary

Fourth-grader Calvin lives near the beach in Oahu with his mom and little sister. Mom says: "You're the man of the house." But Calvin's not great at being the man of the house, or taking care of his responsibilities. He's too busy having fun with his pals, and avoiding Tito, the bully. Trouble Magnetis the first book in a new series for younger readers full of all the fun of growing up in Hawaii. It introduces a wonderful multicultural cast of characters, including Mr. Purdy, who calls his fourth-grade class Boot Camp; Uncle Scoop, who runs the lunch wagon at the beach; Ledward, Mom's 6'7" boyfriend; and gorgeous, intimidating, 15-year-old Stella-from-Texas, who arrives to be the live-in babysitterand to step all over Calvin's turf. From the Hardcover edition.

Author Biography

 
Graham Salisbury is the author of the Calvin Coconut books, as well as many exceptional novels for young readers. Among them are Blue Skin of the Sea, Lord of the Deep, Eyes of the Emperor, House of the Red Fish, Night of the Howling Dogs, and the perennial bestseller Under the Blood-Red Sun.


Graham Salisbury grew up in Hawaii. Calvin Coconut and his friends attend the same school Graham did—Kailua Elementary School. Graham now lives in Portland, Oregon, with his family. You can visit him at www.grahamsalisbury.com.
 
 
Jacqueline Rogers has illustrated more than ninety books for young readers over the past twenty years. She studied illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design and lives in upstate New York. You can visit her at www.jacquelinerogers.com.
 

Excerpts

Chapter 1
Prob'ly an Idiot

Maybe you know the feeling of how junk it is when summer ends. The good times are over. You start thinking about school, homework. Getting up early again.
And there's nothing you can do about it.

But I say, forget that. Get out there and squeeze the last drop of fun out of summer.
Which is why I was down at the beach with my friends Julio Reyes and Maya Medeiros. We were watching a kiteboarder zip over the ocean. I couldn't believe how fast he was going. "Ho, man, look at that guy go!"

Julio whistled. "Like a rocket."

The hot sun sparkled on the blue-green bay. The kiteboarder topped a small wave and let his kite pull him high into the sky. He did a flip and came back down. Perfect.

"Holy moley," I whispered.

All three of us lived a couple blocks from the beach on the same dead-end street, in a town called Kailua, on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Across from our small one-story houses, patches of jungle blocked our neighborhood from a fancy golf course. High above the jungle, green mountains sat under hats of white clouds.

Julio elbowed me. "That guy's a famous kiteboarder."

"No joke? What's his name?"

Julio pinched his chin. "I forget. Something."

Maya laughed. She was cool, and really good at sports. Better than me and Julio. She had a skateboard and a brown belt in tae kwon do. She was born somewhere in China. The Medeiros family adopted her.

We were sitting on a sandy rise under a stand of ironwood trees just above the beach. It was a breezy Thursday morning, and we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

The kiteboarder swung around and raced toward shore. When he got as close as he could before hitting sand, he slowed and sank to his knees. His kite settled down onto the water like a small parachute. He stepped out of his wakeboard and pulled his kite in, then spread it out on the sand.

"Hey," he said. "You kids mind watching my gear? I need to run over to the pavilion."

"Sure!" I sprang to my feet.

"Thanks. Be right back."

The guy dropped his wakeboard, harness, and control bar and headed up over the rise.

The wakeboard was black with red stripes. It had foot grips and looked new. Nice. I glanced over my shoulder to see if the guy was coming back. Nope. I waggled my eyebrows at Julio and Maya. "Watch this."

I stepped into the foot straps. "Bring on the wind!"

"You better get off that, Calvin," Maya said.

I picked up the control bar, which was attached by cables to the kite spread out on the beach. "Yee-hah!" I gave the cables a flip. The kite caught a puff of wind, rose a foot, and settled back down. Ho, man, this was so cool!

I grinned at Maya and Julio.

Just then a strong gust whooshed down the beach and caught the kite. The kite blossomed and snapped up off the sand.

"Calvin!" Maya pointed.

I was still grinning at them when the wind grabbed the kite and whoomped it out like a sail. It shot down the beach, ripping the control bar right out of my hands.
"Grab it!" Julio shouted.

I leaped off the wakeboard and stumbled after it, Maya yelling, "Get it! Get it! It's flying away!"

The control bar bounced along the sand, just out of reach. It skipped out over the water, came back over the sand, and skipped out again. I dove for it and landed on my belly. But I managed to grab the bar and hang on.

The wind was strong! I couldn't slow the escaping kite. It dragged me over the shallow water on my stomach. It fishtailed me up onto the sand, then back into the water again.

"Calvin!" Maya shouted, racing down the beach with Julio.

I bounced and banged over the water, swallowing salty gulps of ocean.

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Excerpted from Calvin Coconut: Trouble Magnet by Graham Salisbury
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.