OCTOBER 2019 - AudioFile
Narrator Bahni Turpin brings her sharp vocal talents and undaunted spirit to this dramatic epistolary tale. Through her seamless performance, listeners hear the diary entries, text messages, and emails collected by Alaine, a high-spirited and ambitious teen, as she dives into her Haitian family’s royal ancestry—only to find herself on a mission to make peace with history. Turpin embodies Alaine’s extroverted nature and instantly taps into the rhythmic tones and blended accents of French and Haitian Creole when Alaine finds herself in Haiti after her mother receives an unexpected medical diagnosis. Turpin smoothly navigates the emotional moments that bring Alaine's family together, along with the intrigue and danger that could leave her family cursed forever. J.E.C. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
★ 07/01/2019
Alaine Beauparlant, 17, is the ambitious, impulsive, and highly opinionated first-generation Haitian-American daughter of divorced parents. Months shy of high school graduation, her future plans hit turbulence after an incident involving her political journalist mother and an overfamiliar politician. Following a poorly executed plot to defend her mother’s honor against judgmental schoolmates at her private school, Alaine is suspended and sent to Haiti to volunteer with a charity app created by her aunt, the Haitian Minister of Tourism. There, Alaine comes face-to-face with family secrets—and curses—she’s never known. Written as a series of intimate personal letters and emotional diary entries from Alaine, her mother, and her female ancestors, the Moulite sisters’ well-conceived debut is an alternately funny and bittersweet story of loss, regret, love, and sacrifice, centered on the fictional female descendants of real-life Haitian queen Marie-Louise Coidavid. Seam- lessly blending story lines and allusions to Haiti’s history and culture, the authors create an indelible, believable character in Alaine—naive, dynamic, and brutally honest—who stretches and grows as her remarkable, affectingly rendered family relationships do. Ages 13–up. Agent: JL Stermer, New Leaf Literary & Media. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
"I couldn't put Dear Haiti, Love Alaine down! I adored how smart and ambitious Alaine is, and I related to her, hurt for her, and rejoiced with her throughout this book."—Jasmine Guillory, New York Times bestselling author of The Wedding Date
"Maika and Maritza Moulite's Dear Haiti, Love Alaine is an enchanting and engrossing novel full of wit and laughter along with a tantalizing generational mystery. Alaine Beauparlant is that rare character who feels like your complicated but indispensable friend, one you wish you could stay in touch with and hear more fascinating and absorbing stories from long after finishing the book."—Edwidge Danticat, author of Breath, Eyes, Memory
"The Moulite Sisters have given us a refreshing and balanced view of Haiti through the eyes of Alaine, a remarkable, funny, and whip-smart young Haitian-American coming to terms with both herself and her heritage. Dear Haiti, Love Alaine is, at its heart, also an American story—necessary, hopeful, and enlightening."—Ibi Zoboi, author of American Street, National Book Award Finalist
"Sisters Maika and Maritza Moulite deliver a phenomenal coming-of-age story with this stunning novel...The authors deliver a smart and witty protagonist in Alaine... the setting takes on a life of its own, plunging readers into Haiti's rich cultural traditions, breathtaking landscape, and vibrant people alongside Alaine, who will quickly become a beloved character amongst teens."—Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
"The Moulite sisters' well-conceived debut is an alternately funny and bittersweet story of loss, regret, love, and sacrifice... Seamlessly blending story lines and allusions to Haiti's history and culture, the authors create an indelible, believable character in Alaine-naive, dynamic, and brutally honest-who stretches and grows as her remarkable, affectingly rendered family relationships do."—Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
"Alaine's adventures in Haiti were so intense and engaging, I could almost feel the dirt beneath my fingernails, could almost smell the peanuts and plantains. But I think my favorite part was ultimately the female empowerment that permeated every part of this tale, past and present. It left me with a sort of Practical Magic feeling, and that is never a bad thing. Maika and Maritza Moulite have created quite the masterpiece here. I look forward to seeing what they do next!"—Alethea Kontis, NPR
"The sisters Moulite have realistically created in Alaine an energetic, smart first-generation teen in a quest to understand herself via family...a strong offering."—School Library Journal
"Sisters Maika and Maritza Moulite's debut is nothing short of extraordinarily loving. The novel portrays Haiti, too often reduced to grim images of poverty and human suffering in modern fiction, as a challenging and beautiful nation of proud and shining souls."—Ben Philippe, author of The Field Guide to the North American Teenager
"The Moulite sisters' stunning debut made me fall in love with Haiti and its people. Heroine Alaine's charming, warm and insightful voice delivered the story I needed as a kid. It was pure black girl magic!"—Dana L. Davis, author of The Voice in My Head
"You'll fall in love with Alaine's humor and heart in this moving story of forgiveness, family and finding yourself."—Kelly deVos, author of Fat Girl on a Plane
"Alaine’s sarcastic quips…are worth the price of admission alone." —HYPEBAE
"A beautiful story from start to finish." —Buzzfeed
Kirkus Reviews
2019-06-05
A riveting tale of testing one's mettle while finding one's roots.
Alaine Beauparlant is a 17-year-old Haitian American senior living in Miami with her psychiatrist father. Alaine plans to follow in the footsteps of her renowned journalist mother by majoring in journalism at Columbia. With mere months to go before graduation, though, Alaine's world starts unraveling and is later turned on its side when she royally messes up a school presentation. Her punishment is to spend two months volunteering in Haiti—though she wasn't given much of a choice. Alaine wants to go to Haiti—the country both of her parents are from—but she would prefer it to be under much different circumstances. With the help of her Tati Estelle and, later, her usually distant mother, Alaine comes to find that there is much more to her family's history than she imagined. In the process, she discovers an even deeper love for the ancestral homeland that she had only known from afar. The Moulite sisters' joint debut has heart and humor. The varied formats, such as emails, texts, and letters, add interest and serve to make the story feel modern. However, the excessive pop-culture references are unnecessary additions to an otherwise captivating novel. This exploration of a culture steeped in magical realism beautifully showcases the sacrifices we are sometimes called to make for the ties that bind us.
Enchanting. (Fiction. 15-adult)
