Graham Salisbury

When a hurricane causes the river near his Hawaiian home to flood, a boy named Calvin Coconut makes a daring rescue.

1943, one year after the end of Under the Blood-Red Sun, Tomi’s Papa and Grandpa are still under arrest, and the paradise of Hawaii now lives in fear—waiting for another attack, while trying to recover from Pearl Harbor. As a Japanese American, Tomi and his family have new enemies everywhere, vigilantes who suspect all Japanese. Tomi finds hope in his goal of raising Papa’s fishing boat, sunk in the canal by the Army on the...

What do you want so badly that you can taste it—and can you persuade someone to give it to you? That’s the subject of a writing assignment Calvin’s fourth-grade teacher, Mr. Purdy, gives the class. Calvin wants a dog! He reads what he’s written to his mom to see just how persuasive he can be. No way, Mom says: Stella, their babysitter, might be allergic, and Calvin is too irresponsible to care for a pet.
Luckily, Mom’s...

Nine-year-old Calvin catches the attention of the school bully on the day before he starts fourth grade, while at home, the unfriendly, fifteen-year-old daughter of his mother's best friend has taken over his room.

Calvin tries to earn money to buy Stella, the babysitter, a present for her sixteenth birthday because he feels guilty for taking advantage of her allergy to cats.

Calvin and his friends have the opportunity to earn some money by appearing as extras in a zombie movie being filmed on a nearby beach.

New fears for fourth-grader Calvin include a school bully named Tito and the return of his estranged father, rock star Little Johnny Coconut.

Growing up in Hawaii between 1953 and 1966, Sonny tries to come to terms with his feelings for his fisherman father and the vast sea that dominates his life.