Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn

Look at the words and images: keys jingling, the prickling grass, the heart and wing and drum beats, the creaking suck, firework air, leaves that breathe, the pull of magnets (I imagine those ubiquitous iron filings), the small movements of stitching, the fizziness of a head filled with helium. I'm interested in the strangeness of the sensations Noa feels. I stepped away, I tried to lean against the folding table with the mac salad and musubi, but my hand missed the tabletop, touched only air, I ended up on the ground, on my ass, for the second time that night.

But Skyler’s dad arrived, pushed me back, and closed the shirt over his son’s hand-it was better already, I swear, the skin closing back, the bones stitching themselves, I saw it was better-and suddenly my head felt fizzy, filled with helium, like after running too fast for too long. And in the space between our hands, something pulled, like magnets, and there was a warmth. I touched Skyler’s hand, my fingers traced the splinters of bone and shreds of skin. Then voices came up again, loud and urgent, someone’s keys jingling, while I stepped forward and touched Skyler’s hand, I didn’t know what I was doing, even Dean asked me that, What are you doing, but I didn’t answer because there was too much in me to speak: I felt the prickly growth of the grass in the lawns all around, as if it was my skin, the beat of the night-bird wings as if I was the one flying, the creaking suck of the trees breathing in the firework air as if the leaves were my own lungs, the drum of the hearts of everyone at the party. This paragraph is narrated from Noa's first-person POV (the book braids multiple voices together) and is the first moment he uses his gifts. When we reach the following passage, we already know there is something special about Noa, but we're not sure what. I'm interested in how the specific language choices make us understand those powers, creating a thrilling sensation and also resonating with the book's bigger themes. Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn is about a Hawaiian boy with special powers and the rest of his family.