Thanks for taking a minute to rack your brain for me on my forgotten book title problem!
BOOK 1
I read this book when I was in jr. high or right before, making it around 1997 at the latest. This means that it was published no later than probably '96.
Some details about the story I remember:
Main character was an adolescent boy who was either visiting or living with an (some) older cousin(s) on an island (maybe Hawaii) There were other kids who bullied him. The older cousin gave the main character some advice about squeezing a golf ball or tennis ball to increase his punch strength so he could better defend himself. He later used this new "pop" in his punch to defend himself against the bully. I want to think that the setting some of the adolescent conflict occurred at was a trash dump or somewhere remote.
This book was my first ever taste of romance in literature. There was some detail about a girlfriend and their first kiss, maybe on a beach somewhere.
BOOK 2
The second book I remember less of. I remember there was a boy who lived on an island or on the coast in a tropical zone. There was a sunken ship outside of the area he was and one day the tide was abnormally low so he went out to explore the ship. It turned out that there had been an earthquake that caused a tsunami wave to pull all of the water out, just to be gathered into a massive tidal wave that returned after the boy had climed aboard the sunken ship. The wave struck the boat with the boy inside and carried it into the jungle a considerable distance.
That is all I have! I remember the way the books made me feel more so than I remember the whole story or other important details.
Thanks for any help you can offer!
BOOK 1
I read this book when I was in jr. high or right before, making it around 1997 at the latest. This means that it was published no later than probably '96.
Some details about the story I remember:
Main character was an adolescent boy who was either visiting or living with an (some) older cousin(s) on an island (maybe Hawaii) There were other kids who bullied him. The older cousin gave the main character some advice about squeezing a golf ball or tennis ball to increase his punch strength so he could better defend himself. He later used this new "pop" in his punch to defend himself against the bully. I want to think that the setting some of the adolescent conflict occurred at was a trash dump or somewhere remote.
This book was my first ever taste of romance in literature. There was some detail about a girlfriend and their first kiss, maybe on a beach somewhere.
BOOK 2
The second book I remember less of. I remember there was a boy who lived on an island or on the coast in a tropical zone. There was a sunken ship outside of the area he was and one day the tide was abnormally low so he went out to explore the ship. It turned out that there had been an earthquake that caused a tsunami wave to pull all of the water out, just to be gathered into a massive tidal wave that returned after the boy had climed aboard the sunken ship. The wave struck the boat with the boy inside and carried it into the jungle a considerable distance.
That is all I have! I remember the way the books made me feel more so than I remember the whole story or other important details.
Thanks for any help you can offer!
