Aloha Crossing - Mom's Choice Awards Recipient [Paperback]

Pamela Bauer Mueller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 2008 | Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

Pamela Bauer Mueller's newest title, Aloha Crossing, is the sequel to the award winning Hello, Goodbye, I Love You: The Story of Aloha, A Guide Dog for the Blind.

A year has passed since puppy raiser Diego handed Aloha's harness over to her blind partner Kimberly Louise. Now Diego is traveling to Georgia to visit his beloved friend again! This heartwarming story follows the exciting cross-country adventures and moving scenarios of a diverse group of family and friends. Although Aloha is a central figure in this intriguing story, she shares the stage with human actors who make this more than a tale about a blind woman and her guide dog. Learning from the devoted Aloha s example, they discover they are capable of weathering any storm and triumphing over every setback.

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From the opening chapter where Aloha rescues Kimberly Louise from the wheels of an unseen car, through the consequences of a horrific storm and finally to the riveting last chapter, we identified with the unfolding relationship forged between a blind person and canine partner. We thrilled as teenager Diego evolved from Aloha's puppy raiser to Miss Kimberly Louise's friend and eventually to hero. With more than 65 years of guide dog partnership between us, we reveled in Kimberly Louise s joy in meeting Aloha, and their evolution as a team. Pamela Bauer Mueller has provided the reader with an exciting and exuberant story about a blind woman, her guide dog and the youngster who raised her for a career of love and service.
Ed and Toni Eames, authors of Partners in Independence: A Success Story of Dogs and the Disabled

Sequel to Hello, Goodbye, I Love You: A 2004 IRA Children's Choice Selection

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5–7—In this sequel to Hello, Goodbye, I Love You (Piñata Pub., 2003), guide dog Aloha is living happily with her partner, Kimberly Louise, on a small island off the Georgia coast. Neither has forgotten Aloha's puppy-raiser, young Diego, and he is thrilled when they invite him to stay for a few weeks. Unfortunately, his visit coincides with a hurricane hitting the island. One snake bite, a lost-and-found Aloha, and lots of broken windows later, everyone lives happily ever after, with Kimberly Louise getting a marriage proposal into the bargain. As in the first book, what might have been a genuinely moving story is marred by wooden dialogue ("It seems that only when I'm with you can I sit still and let contentment wash over me"), clunky information passages dropped into the middle of scenes (such as lengthy, unnatural dialogue passages on the development of Braille), and long tangents (for example, when Kimberly Louise spends nearly two chapters telling the boy about her grandfather being shipwrecked with a dog). Most damaging, however, is the fact that no point of view is fully developed; the narrative stands at arm's-length from every character, and so it is difficult to emotionally invest in any of them. Readers who enjoyed Aloha's first adventure may come aboard for this second one, but it's unlikely that the side trips into history and adult romance will keep them engaged.—Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MD
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Aloha Crossing" is a recipient of the prestigious gold Mom's Choice Award. The Mom's Choice Awards honors excellence in family-friendly media, products and services. An esteemed panel of judges includes education, media and other experts as well as parents, children, librarians, performing artists, producers, medical and business professionals, authors, scientists and others. A sampling of the panel members includes: Dr. Twila C. Liggett, Ten-time Emmy-winner, professor and founder of Reading Rainbow; Julie Aigner-Clark, Creator of Baby Einstein and The Safe Side Project; Jodee Blanco, New York Times Best-Selling Author; LeAnn Thieman, Motivational speaker and coauthor of seven Chicken Soup For The Soul books; Tara Paterson, Certified Parent Coach, and founder of the Mom's Choice Awards. Parents and educators look for the Mom s Choice Awards seal in selecting quality materials and products for children and families. This book/product has been honored by this distinguished gold award. --Mom's Choice Awards

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Pinata Publishing; 1 edition (September 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0968509797
• ISBN-13: 978-0968509791
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,067,415 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was raised in North Bend, Oregon, a peaceful town close to the sea. As the oldest of five children, I often entertained my siblings with fabricated stories about witches and magical creatures. My parents passed on to us their love of the written word and we became avid readers. Dad, a radiologist who had several medical books and a few short stories published, told us we could do anything if we really believed in ourselves.

In the middle of my high school freshman year our family moved to Klamath Falls in southern Oregon, with a lake for water-skiing and exciting new educational and social challenges. Reading and writing were my favorite school subjects. Through them I began a life-long quest for travel and new adventures.

During my second year at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, I traveled to Mexico with twenty-two students and two professors to study for six months with the Experiment in International Living. For two months we lived with families in Merida, Yucatan, before moving to Mexico City to study with local University professors. While living in a pension in Mexico City, I met a young architect who would eventually become my husband. But first I had to convince my parents to let me return to Mexico to study for a year at the University of the Americas. I finished my final year at Lewis and Clark College with a B.A. in Spanish.

Now I could follow my travel dreams! For two years I flew as a flight attendant for Pan American Airlines, flying to every continent except Africa. In those days we had 3-4 day layovers in amazing places like Argentina, Aruba, Tahiti, and Thailand; my hungry mind was already storing information for book material.

I married Eduardo Gual in 1969 and lived happily in Mexico City for eighteen years. We raised our two daughters to be bi-lingual and bi-cultural. In my free time, I entertained myself by working as an actress in Mexican television programs, American movies filmed in Mexico (Caveman, Under Fire, Volunteers, etc.) modeling, and filming commercials. I also taught Spanish to American executives and English to Mexican businessmen and children.

In 1986, after my divorce, I brought my daughters to San Diego to start over. I became a U.S. Customs Inspector and was sent to Brunswick, GA to the Federal Law Enforcement Academy for training. As fate would have it, I met my future husband Michael in my basic training class! After a seven-year relationship, (three of them long distance), we married and have just celebrated our thirteenth anniversary!

While working as a Customs Inspector, I wrote my first book "The Bumpedy Road" as a tribute to my daughters to thank them for their courage in following and supporting me and the life changes my divorce had inflicted on them. I decided to write it with our Mexican cat Kiska as narrator. We thought it would be a "stand-alone" book, but school children wrote to me, again and again, asking for a sequel. "Rain City Cats" was written next, also during my six-year tour of duty in Vancouver, B.C. Canada, and "Eight Paws to Georgia" was completed after our move to St. Simons Island, GA. Now we had a "Kiska Trilogy" -- I was really an author! I had worked for twelve years as a Customs Inspector and now my husband encouraged me leave the government and work full-time as an author.

About this time, my younger daughter was raising a guide puppy for Guide Dogs for the Blind. Soon we met Aloha and learned all about the "Puppy-Raising Program." When the time came for her to return Aloha to the school for formal training, she phoned us in tears. I asked her what I could do to make it easier and she answered: "Write a book about Aloha's story." "Hello, Goodbye, I Love You is that story."

Since moving to coastal Georgia, I've been intrigued with local history. Neptune Small lived as a slave on one of the fourteen island plantations during the antebellum period, and he performed an incredibly loving and heroic deed for his master's son. This local legend had never been written in book form, so I sought out Neptune's descendants and asked their permission to write it. "Neptune's Honor" has been well received and has given them their great-grandfather's legacy in written form.

My second historical fiction was released in early 2007. Entitled "An Angry Drum Echoed: Mary Musgrove, Queen of the Creeks," it tells the story of a Creek woman who met General Oglethorpe's ship when he landed to colonize Georgia. She became his interpreter and emissary and smoothed the path to cooperation between the Creeks and the colonists.

This keen interest in southern historical characters takes me back to my youth, when reading biographies and historical fiction captured my imagination and took me to other places. My books are written for children and young adults, to educate yet entertain. Michael and I enjoy traveling and sharing our favorite books. Sometimes we'll even read them to Jasper and Sukey Spice, our cats! We are members of Lions Club International, and I was the local chapter's president in 2006-2007. Our grandbabies bring us great joy and we visit them in Australia and San Diego whenever we can.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent sequel, July 3, 2008

By 

Scott A. Nelson (johnston, ia United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Aloha Crossing - Mom's Choice Awards Recipient (Paperback)

This is an excellent sequel to Hello, Goodbye, I Love You.

I really love Ms. Bauer-Mueller's tale of what it takes emotionally
to raise a seeing-eye dog and then give it away. It takes strength of
character from both giver and receiver.

Revisiting the characters made me realize how much I loved the first one.

Share this book with your friends.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific read for young and old, June 8, 2008

By 

Cassandra G. Coveney (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Aloha Crossing - Mom's Choice Awards Recipient (Paperback)

We really loved the whole book because it was a story of adventure, love, friendship, loyalty, devotion, perseverance, and triumph. What more could you want from a story? In Aloha Crossing, Pamela does a tremendous job of having the reader be "right there" with the characters. We feel Kimberly Louise's frustration, we know what it's like to be lost during a hurricane, and we grow to love each character more and more as the book goes on. This is a terrific read for young and old.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST- read for people of all ages!, June 1, 2008

By 

K. Belt - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Aloha Crossing - Mom's Choice Awards Recipient (Paperback)

I could not put this book down until I found out if Aloha made it through the hurricane. Living on an island, you know hurricanes are always a possibility so living this one out through the lives of Kimberly Louise & Diego was exciting and scary at the same time. Trying to imagine what life is like without seeing comes alive as Pamela Bauer Mueller let me "see" into Kimberly Louise's life. Having Aloha as her faithful companion almost makes me not feel badly about her blindness. Diego inspired me with his courage and trustworthiness, traits that reminded me how young people can really make a difference in the lives of others. Kids of all ages will be encouraged to follow their dreams, work hard and enjoy the moment. A MUST-read for people of all ages.