The Disability Book Archive

[ID: A book cover. The title “Scar of the Bamboo Leaf” is written at the top in black printed script. The author’s name “Sieni A. M.” is written at the bottom in smaller, orange capitals. The background is orange. Down the centre, the dark silhouette of a young person with their hair tied into a bun. They have leaves on their head. Five leaves are flying away from them. /end]

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Content Warning:

• Parental Abandonment
• Death
• Racism
• Violence
• TBD

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Summary:

“That boy is like the bamboo…foreign and unknown in this environment. But like the bamboo, if you plant and nurture it in the right soil, it has the potential to grow vibrant and strong.”

Walking with a pronounced limp all her life has never stopped fifteen-year-old Kiva Mau from doing what she loves. While most girls her age are playing sports and perfecting their traditional Samoan dance, Kiva finds serenity in her sketchbook and volunteering at the run-down art center her extended family owns, nestled amongst the bamboo.

When seventeen-year-old Ryler Cade steps into the art center for the first time, Kiva is drawn to the angry and misguided student sent from abroad to reform his violent ways. Scarred and tattooed, a friendship is formed when the gentle Kiva shows him kindness and beauty through art, until circumstances occur beyond their control and they are pulled away.

Immersed in the world of traditional art and culture, this is the story of self-sacrifice and discovery, of acceptance and forbearance, of overcoming adversity and finding one’s purpose. Spanning years, it is a story about an intuitive girl and a misunderstood boy and love that becomes real when tested.

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Notes:

There is a kindle edition.

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Archivist Comments:

I have searched high and low for content warnings. I put together a list as best as I could using the reviews I could find, but I feel like I’ve missed some things so just let me know.

I got weirdly invested in this book just by reading the reviews, and you I feel like I know even less about it now that I’ve looked into it than I did before I put it on the site.

The note I originally had written for it said “a love story that spans years” and that was it. It’s not wrong. Nearly all the praise for this book is directed at the writing style and the time taken to properly develop the characters. People have also said that while they weren’t necessarily always a fan of the ending, it fit very well into the “unconventional love story” of the book.

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