The Signs and Wonders of Tuna Rashad

Altuna “Tuna” Rashad, an aspiring screenwriter, is moving out of state for college in two months. And she has big plans for the summer. She is determined to date her crush, Tristan Dangerfield, before summer’s end. Tuna has shared her goal with her parents, her older brother, Robby, and her best friend, Fi. But Robby, who is grieving the loss of his one true love, inadvertently keeps messing with Tuna’s plans. So Tuna’s one goal for the summer has turned into two—now she’s determined to help her brother process his grief before she leaves.

It turns out that Robby’s constant intrusions into Tuna’s life are not the only obstacles blocking the path to her fledgling romance with Tristan. Tuna believes in all the signs and wonders her Caribbean ancestors are sending whereas Tristan does not share the same beliefs and is more of a science and math guy. And then there’s the mixed signals that Tristan is sending Tuna’s way. As the summer begins to fade, Tuna begins to wonder, is she making any progress toward either of her goals?

Author Natasha Deen writes stories for children, teens, and adults, with the goal of changing the world, one story at a time. She is a Guyanese-Canadian and the child of immigrants, and she has first-hand experience in observing how sharing stories brings people together and enacts change. As the only mixed-race child in her classes growing up, and not seeing kids like her represented on television or in movies, Deen turned to books and comics to feel seen, connecting with the unique characters she found in these stories. Her previous novel, In the Key of Nira Ghani, won the Amy Mathers Teen Book Award and was named to several “best of” lists, including the Canadian Children’s Book Centre Best Pick for Kids & Teens, the American Library Association YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, Barnes & Noble’s Top 25 Most Anticipated Own Voices Novels, and Chapters-Indigo Most Anticipated Teen Books. In her spare time, Deen enjoys leading writing workshops to help others find their voices and tell their stories.

Deen’s biography on her website states that she likes to infuse a “whole lot of humour” into her stories, and The Signs and Wonders of Tuna Rashad definitely fits the bill. She wrote Tuna’s character to be intelligent and funny, and readers are sure to enjoy her quick wit and banter with Tristan. Despite their differences in spiritual beliefs, readers are likely to appreciate the sweet friendship that Tuna and Tristan develop throughout the text. Deen’s writing makes it obvious that humour runs in Tuna’s family—her parents are both witty and clever, as is Robby, even through his blinding grief. The text also demonstrates how grief can affect each person differently—Robby dealt with his grief through shutting down, avoiding the world and anything that reminded him of his husband, and relied on his family, Tuna deflected with humour and kept pushing forward, and their mother put on a brave face in front of others, only letting her tears flow when she had a quiet moment alone. The elements of humour perfectly balance the grief the characters are facing after the loss of a loved one, so as not to make the text too emotionally heavy for readers.

Throughout the text, Deen infused some cultural traditions that were practiced by Tuna’s family, including listening and watching for signs and wonders from the great-aunties. Readers from different cultural backgrounds will be able to learn right alongside Tristan as he gets to know Tuna and as she shares her family’s practices with him. This is a unique aspect of the text that readers can learn from as it demonstrates that, despite our differences, we are all human and are more alike than different.

Deen has written Tuna’s character to be a strong, determined, independent young woman who knows what she wants. She is determined to pursue her dreams as a screenwriter and takes every opportunity she can to help her brother cope with his loss in the ways that she knows how. These character traits were also evident in her steadfast pursuit of Tristan as a romantic partner. As a feminist, I was disappointed that, when Tuna first shared her beliefs with Tristan and he called them “out there”, among other not-so-nice phrases, and she described his accompanying facial expression as “I don’t know, maybe it’s a smile. It feels like a smirk. A condescending, patronizing, frat-bro with tinges of colonialism-hypocrisy smirk”, not only does Tuna continue to pursue him, she apologizes to him for “questioning [his] beliefs in science”, which she didn’t actually do. I wished that after Tristan displayed this dismissive behaviour, coupled with the mixed signals he was giving her throughout the text, Tuna would have made what would have been the more feminist move of not feeling like she needed to apologize for standing up for her beliefs and realize that her romance with Tristan was not meant to be. With that being said, one can empathize with Tuna’s situation where first love doesn’t always make logical sense to those outside of it.

The Signs and Wonders of Tuna Rashad is a well-balanced text that expertly weaves together humour and romance with themes of grief so as not to make the topic feel overly heavy. The examples of Caribbean cultural elements presented within the text make for a learning opportunity for readers. Filled with unique and interesting characters and an engaging plot, the text is likely to elicit the full range of emotions from readers. This book is likely to be enjoyed by teens looking for a quick, engaging read.