I wish all the Calvin Coconut books were like this one (but I think it probably needed the seven books before to get the story to this point). There are more continuity issues in this one. It sounds like Ledward started dating Calvin's mom very shortly after Calvin's dad left, but in the first book he says that Ledward has been coming around for more than a year (which reads to me as between one and two years but not more than that...).

The bigger issue I had though was with Calvin's dad's concert. In the first chapter he's nervous about seeing his dad who's coming to Honolulu but in the next chapter they learn that his dad is coming to visit them and has just added Honolulu to his concert schedule. WHICH IS IT? I kept rereading those sections trying to figure this out but finally had to give up because it's just a writing problem THAT WAS NEVER FIXED. Who's the editor for these books? Why doesn't Salisbury care about continuity? Seriously, I've just resigned myself to the issues because they aren't going away.

Lastly, and this is a small thing, but what (which?) hotel in Waikiki has a door? All the ones I've been to have open-air atriums that include the lobby.

Now that's all out of the way, I enjoyed the story. The conflict felt believable (the middle few books of the story really stretched my imagination) though I still don't buy Calvin as a nine-year-old (possibly ten-year-old by now?). We get to meet Calvin's dad, there's a good Tito plot line. Calvin gets himself into and out of a mess all on his own. This is probably the best book in the series, and it makes me feel better about sticking with Calvin through eight books (I was seriously questioning the books and myself in the middle there).

This one was better than the last two. I enjoyed the story a lot and it felt mostly believable.

There were more continuity issues in this book. Calvin Coconut's dad (Little Johnny Coconut) had a hit song. In the first book it was "A Little Bit of La-la-la-love" and in this book it’s "I Love Sunshine Pop." Also Ledward has gone from being half Hawaiian, half a bunch of other things to half Hawaiian, half Filipino to a Hawaiian guy.

Salisbury doesn't mention Baja Bill's race (he looks haole in the illustrations) which really stood out to me. As I mentioned in my review of Calvin Coconut: Kung Fooey, Salisbury is getting worse and worse at the race aspect in his books. The characters are diverse, but he only describes the characters of color (exception: Willy in Calvin Coconut: Trouble Magnet).

He also unnecessarily defines things (shoyu in this book). It makes it feel like he's writing for white mainlanders. It's like when I read Korean YA books and everything is overexplained. Outsiders might not get it, but they can look things up. Don't know what shoyu is? Look it up.

And while I'm on words: the word is gunwale not gunnel. Gunwale is a part of a ship. Gunnel is a fish. I don't want to be pedantic or prescriptivist (maybe I'm failing in this instance), but words do have meaning and I can't believe no one corrected this mistake before the book went to print.

I did like that Shayla is getting more attention. I want to learn more about the secondary characters. It's happening very slowly but surely.

Again, a Calvin Coconut book with an unbelievable plot point. Most of the book was pretty good, but I don't believe that fight would be enough to make a kid transfer (maybe I'm insensitive to the problems kids face in school these days... or maybe I've read way better books that deal with bullying?).

It might have convinced me if these books were around when I was a kid. But as an adult it just doesn't feel true. I also wish Salisbury would develop the secondary characters more. We know some about all the recurring characters, but Benny Obi's development was pretty shallow and therefore it made it difficult for me to connect to him or feel anything for his plight (which is all seen through Calvin's eyes anyway?).

Another disappointment in the series, but I don't know when to quit so onto the next one.

A few other observations:

1. What is a parking space that you have to back into? Is that just parallel parking? Don't they call that parallel parking in HI?

2. "boiled soybeans in the pod" totally reads like a haole description

3. Do you really get your driver's license (picture and all) immediately after passing your test in HI? In CA you get a temporary license (just a piece of paper saying you passed) and your real license comes in the mail weeks later.

This series is really up and down for me. One of the main plot points in this one is so unbelievable. Also there's a lack of consistency between the books. Ledward was originally half Hawaiian, half a bunch of other things. Now he's half Hawaiian, half Filipino. Clarence was described as Samoan the first time we meet him, but in this book he's described as Hawaiian (not everyone who lives in Hawai'i is Hawaiian... it's an actual ethnicity).

And Stella's race is never mentioned. Earlier in the series it seemed like Salisbury would be good about describing race (eg when Willy first comes it's noted that he's the only haole on the street and the only blond kid in class), but the longer the series goes on the more and more non-white characters are described and white characters aren't (which reads: white is the default).

There's also a bit where Calvin explains flooding which why? I'm pretty sure most people (even kids) know what flooding is even if they've never seen it.

So far this is my least favorite book of the series. I definitely hope the next book is better.

"Half the girls were making faces. Some were covering their ears. They not only didn't want to smell bad stuff, they didn't even want to hear about it." That's how I felt reading this book. The story isn't bad, but I just didn't find it interesting. It edges the line of too gross for me. I bet the intended audience for the books enjoys this one though.