Azi lives on a small, unnamed Mediterranean island. He doesn't fit in - not with the busy, gruff uncle who cares for him, the other village boys who tease him for preferring the sea to soccer, or even the tourists who never stay for long. But Azi knows that everything will be fine when Grandfather returns and he's able to go back and live with him. While he waits, he slowly befriends a lost dog, Sandy, and a girl who's visiting but not a tourist. Eventually, he learns the truth behind the secrets of his life, his Grandfather leaving, and how to accept and return friendship.
SPOILERS
It's cloaked in a lot of descriptive language, but eventually readers will learn that Grandfather has a problem with alcohol and inadvertently injured Azi, who is not his biological grandson but was found as a baby in the sea and is probably a refugee, hence some of the village prejudice. Azi deals with guilt, struggles to connect with his busy uncle and the kindly waitress Maria, and with the friendship of Beth he slowly learns that he can be himself even without Grandfather and that his family includes many different kinds of people.
This isn't a white savior story; Beth struggles just as much as Azi and her longing for friendship and feelings of displacement, while acknowledged, are clearly shown to be very different from Azi's experiences. Both she and Avi handle their problems in different ways and while they grow to be close, there's always the knowledge that Beth will eventually leave and Azi needs to reconnect with his own family, even though he can keep the connections he's forged with Beth.
Verdict: For sensitive readers who like Lean's other titles, this is a satisfying and beautiful story of family and friendship.
ISBN: 9780008327583; Published July 2019 by HarperCollins Children's Books; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to the library
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