Minerva’s heart sank as she opened her mother’s gift to her for her sixteenth birthday. It was not shaped like a ukulele. It was not firm like a ukulele. Thus, by the time Minerva pulled out a blue sweater decorated with large white snowflakes, her hopes were already trampled. Not a ukulele at all.
So when Minerva marched in the music store to purchase the longed-for ukulele, it was a huge deal. The ukulele of her dreams was hers. Minerva began playing one of the few songs she knew, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” People on the street stopped to smile at her. Some began to sing along. Some began to dance.
Israel KamakawiwoÊ»ole, or “Iz,” was a skilled musician and a leader in the Independent Hawaii movement. His sweet rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” on ukulele is irresistible. In 1997, KamakawiwoÊ»ole died of complications related to obesity.
The video clip below shows images of KamakawiwoÊ»ole floating over beautiful Hawaiian land and seascapes. At the very end, KamakawiwoÊ»ole’s ashes are scattered into the water.
Brent Crawford is a very funny guy who writes the kind of YA novels that leave ninth graders howling with laughter. We’re talking humor that features boobs, dildos, diarrhea, and other verboten topics, all covered in Carter’s ADD-tinged stream of conscious narration. Hapless Carter seems an unlikely candidate to star in his high school production of