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Moana sets out to find demigod Maui and help him return a jewel to goddess Te Fiti to save her people. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Spotlight is a division of ABDO.
52 pages, Library Binding
First published October 4, 2016
About the author
Alessandro Ferrari
248 books22 followersAlessandro Ferrari, nato nel 1978, è sceneggiatore di fumetti, sceneggiatore di cartoni animati e autore. La sua carriera di sceneggiatore è iniziata nel 2005 durante un corso presso l’Accademia Disney di Milano.
Ha iniziato a scrivere fin da piccolissimo, storie e fumetti, al termine del Liceo ha poi deciso che quello sarebbe stato il suo mestiere.
Alessandro Q. Ferrari è stato ospite al festival Mare di Libri nelle edizioni del 2010 e 2018.
Ha iniziato a scrivere fin da piccolissimo, storie e fumetti, al termine del Liceo ha poi deciso che quello sarebbe stato il suo mestiere.
Alessandro Q. Ferrari è stato ospite al festival Mare di Libri nelle edizioni del 2010 e 2018.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
August 2, 2025
Moana and Maui begeben sich auf eine gemeinsame Reise...
Ich habe dieses Hörspiel gehört, um mein Englisch etwas aufzubessern. Dafür sind diese kurzen Disney-Hörspiele gut geeignet, zumal ich Disney sowieso sehr mag! ❤️
Ich habe dieses Hörspiel gehört, um mein Englisch etwas aufzubessern. Dafür sind diese kurzen Disney-Hörspiele gut geeignet, zumal ich Disney sowieso sehr mag! ❤️
June 17, 2018
Loved the movie and the book was awesome as well. Girl power!! Not all hero’s have to be male
Read
November 13, 2020In the book I like the part when Maui returned the hart of Te Fiti . Also the part when she sees her grandmother again . "Cadence age 8 and a half"
May 25, 2018
Vor ein paar Tagen habe ich das Hörbuch zum Film immer im Auto gehört und es kam mir vor, als wäre ich auf einer Insel 🏝 Es ist so liebevoll und bildlich beschrieben, dass man sich alles genau vorstellen kann. Die Stimme der Erzählerin hat natürlich super gepasst, da es die Synchronstimme von Vaiana im Film ist. Es ist ein tolles Abenteuer für groß und klein und eines ist klar, wer Vaiana mag, wird dieses Hörbuch lieben. Ganz klare Empfehlung meinerseits!
April 8, 2018
I love all things Disney and more importantly I absolutely love reading, I am hoping to pass both of those qualities onto all of my nieces and nephews.
So far so good as my niece said she loved the book so much she wanted to read more. ❤️
So far so good as my niece said she loved the book so much she wanted to read more. ❤️
February 13, 2021
Book #126 in my Disney Golden Book collection.
June 19, 2025
I love reading about Uncle Maui and Moana and want to meet them one day!
Read
July 6, 2026More like quest for the book which has been yeeted under the couch because the baby requests it 10 times a day every day 🤡
December 13, 2016
Originally published on my blog,
Nine Pages
.
I’d very ardently avoided spoilers for this film, but was required to read Moana and the Ocean for a story time, and realized fast that that book would last only five minutes at most of the half hour I was supposed to fill. So I grabbed this. And yes, I was given some spoilers by it, probably more than I wanted, but I’m still interested in seeing the film.
So before I start this review: SPOILERS!
This gives a fairly bare-boned sketch of the story’s driving problem: that the island is missing its heart, and that that heart must be returned to the island by the demigod who stole it then lost it, but that there are other forces who would prevent the island’s heart from being returned. The illustrations seem fairly in the style of the film itself, which is to say what you’d expect from Disney animation. There were some words here to trip children up, the Polynesian gods’ names primarily. Those names they might know from the film, which would make it easier, but I feel fairly confident in my pronunciation without having seen the film, which means that a child reading this without having seen the film might too be able to sound out the names. (I could be far off on my pronunciation though; I won’t know till I see the film, but these are not names like Tanngnjóstr or Hlidskjalf, (And of course I’m saying all this as an English monolinguist who has studied only a few Romance languages in any kind of depth and has only a smattering of words that I know languages with other roots). There were a few pages that got a bit frightening, but my audience of one who was maybe 4 had no trouble with the lava god attacking our hero and heroine.
I can’t rate this book as an adaptation but as a story solo it really was fairly well-developed, especially for its length and reading level, and exciting. I could have done with some more character building, but the world building was pretty exquisite.
I’d very ardently avoided spoilers for this film, but was required to read Moana and the Ocean for a story time, and realized fast that that book would last only five minutes at most of the half hour I was supposed to fill. So I grabbed this. And yes, I was given some spoilers by it, probably more than I wanted, but I’m still interested in seeing the film.
So before I start this review: SPOILERS!
This gives a fairly bare-boned sketch of the story’s driving problem: that the island is missing its heart, and that that heart must be returned to the island by the demigod who stole it then lost it, but that there are other forces who would prevent the island’s heart from being returned. The illustrations seem fairly in the style of the film itself, which is to say what you’d expect from Disney animation. There were some words here to trip children up, the Polynesian gods’ names primarily. Those names they might know from the film, which would make it easier, but I feel fairly confident in my pronunciation without having seen the film, which means that a child reading this without having seen the film might too be able to sound out the names. (I could be far off on my pronunciation though; I won’t know till I see the film, but these are not names like Tanngnjóstr or Hlidskjalf, (And of course I’m saying all this as an English monolinguist who has studied only a few Romance languages in any kind of depth and has only a smattering of words that I know languages with other roots). There were a few pages that got a bit frightening, but my audience of one who was maybe 4 had no trouble with the lava god attacking our hero and heroine.
I can’t rate this book as an adaptation but as a story solo it really was fairly well-developed, especially for its length and reading level, and exciting. I could have done with some more character building, but the world building was pretty exquisite.
January 5, 2018
Moana uf por donde empezar.
No conocía hasta ahora ninguna historia que hablara sobre la cultura de las islas del pacifico y esta me introdujo tanto en su mitología como en su vida cotidiana, y es supremamente increíble. Me ha encantado de principio a fin el libro, aunque debo añadir que la narrativa que se maneja es muy sencilla ya que es un libro de Disney dirigido a niños.
Un plus que veo en el libro y no se hace mucha introducción en la película Aunque la película también se hace un gran espacio, es maravillosa Es las pequeñas historias que se agregan a cada capitulo, que hablan sobre la historia de las islas, algunas hazañas de Maui, etc.
Mis favoritas han sido sin duda La historia de Fetuao y las estrellas, que habla sobre como antes solo se navegaba de día y al anochecer, todos se apuraban a regresar a casa. Fetuao empieza a pasear con cada una de las estrellas del cielo y así aprende el camino para navegar por la noche.
Y La historia de las hermanas viento, un divertido relato sobre las cuatro hijas del viento; Este, Norte, Sur y Oeste.
Aspectos físicos del libro que me encantaron como dibujos de tejidos, así como ilustraciones muy parecidas al estilo "tatuajes Maui"
Un libro que recomiendo muchísimo para personas muy jóvenes, que aparte de mostrarnos una pequeña parte de la cultura polinesia, nos adentra a un latente poder femenino. Moana, es de las pocas películas de Disney en las que veo el importante papel de la mujer, en la cual se le cree capaz y independiente. No todas las "princesas" deben tener una historia de amor para ser aclamadas.
Que buena manera de empezar el año con esta lectura.
No conocía hasta ahora ninguna historia que hablara sobre la cultura de las islas del pacifico y esta me introdujo tanto en su mitología como en su vida cotidiana, y es supremamente increíble. Me ha encantado de principio a fin el libro, aunque debo añadir que la narrativa que se maneja es muy sencilla ya que es un libro de Disney dirigido a niños.
Un plus que veo en el libro y no se hace mucha introducción en la película Aunque la película también se hace un gran espacio, es maravillosa Es las pequeñas historias que se agregan a cada capitulo, que hablan sobre la historia de las islas, algunas hazañas de Maui, etc.
Mis favoritas han sido sin duda La historia de Fetuao y las estrellas, que habla sobre como antes solo se navegaba de día y al anochecer, todos se apuraban a regresar a casa. Fetuao empieza a pasear con cada una de las estrellas del cielo y así aprende el camino para navegar por la noche.
Y La historia de las hermanas viento, un divertido relato sobre las cuatro hijas del viento; Este, Norte, Sur y Oeste.
Aspectos físicos del libro que me encantaron como dibujos de tejidos, así como ilustraciones muy parecidas al estilo "tatuajes Maui"
Un libro que recomiendo muchísimo para personas muy jóvenes, que aparte de mostrarnos una pequeña parte de la cultura polinesia, nos adentra a un latente poder femenino. Moana, es de las pocas películas de Disney en las que veo el importante papel de la mujer, en la cual se le cree capaz y independiente. No todas las "princesas" deben tener una historia de amor para ser aclamadas.
Que buena manera de empezar el año con esta lectura.
December 6, 2020
Hard to say since I don't actually speak Spanish, but listened because A. Libby kept suggesting it to me, B. It's pretty short so why not, and C. I thought it might help my comprehension and Spanish vocabulary just a very tiny bit. I did learn a few more words, and it was fun to listen to, but I can't really review the story or anything. 😉
February 27, 2017
Condensed version of Moana story on thick board-book pages. Includes some see-thru pages with tree and bird images. My preschooler loves to peek thru them and say, "I'm on the island! I'm flying with the birds!"
February 7, 2017
I have not seen this film, so I cannot tell you how well this follows it. But, I did enjoy the story. And, I still want to see the film.
Read
February 9, 2017A really fast read, a cute account of the story of Moana with nice art :)
June 1, 2017
Como o próprio título diz, é a mesma história do filme, porém bem mais comprimida e perde um pouco da graça por isso, mas não deixa de ser bem legal e gostosinho de ler.
March 21, 2018
perfect for young readers who loved the film.
January 7, 2025
Just like the movie, very good
December 11, 2025
This book was the best book I’ve read this year maybe even ever!! The pictures were wonderful lovely visual stimuli. Who knew what Heihei could get up to!! Love love love
January 2, 2026
Desafortunadamente el libro fue muy difícil entender por causa de tantos nombres. Por una persona que quiere aprender un nuevo idioma, no lo recomiendo.
December 23, 2025
Amazing book! Great retelling of the movie!
December 8, 2024
Read via audiobook.
This has to be the dumbest audiobook I've ever done. I cannot tell if it's the writing, the voice acting, or both.
I have not seen the film Moana, so I thought I'd do the audiobook. I understand that this book is heavily geared towards younger readers, but the writing is too simplistic. I have read books geared towards younger readers, but even they are not this poorly done. The writing was basic and boring
The next problem is the narrator: she was downright awful. Since this book is geared towards children, the language is very basic, but the narrator had trouble reading even the most basic sentences. She seemed to struggle through each and every word. Who wants to read an audiobook where the narrator is illiterate?
Overall pass on this one!
This has to be the dumbest audiobook I've ever done. I cannot tell if it's the writing, the voice acting, or both.
I have not seen the film Moana, so I thought I'd do the audiobook. I understand that this book is heavily geared towards younger readers, but the writing is too simplistic. I have read books geared towards younger readers, but even they are not this poorly done. The writing was basic and boring
The next problem is the narrator: she was downright awful. Since this book is geared towards children, the language is very basic, but the narrator had trouble reading even the most basic sentences. She seemed to struggle through each and every word. Who wants to read an audiobook where the narrator is illiterate?
Overall pass on this one!
August 14, 2023
This is a simple if not somewhat skewed retelling of the movie, Moana. The ocean in particular is given many more roles and importance above what is seen the movie. It's still an interesting story, and will be at least somewhat familiar to kids who have seen the movie. If you want total consistency though, this edition may annoy you somewhat.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 31, 2025
Cute nice story narration
Moana and Maui go out for an important quest. But they have to go beyond the reef and most importantly, they have to trust each other. Cute story narration and would be enjoyed by kids.
Moana and Maui go out for an important quest. But they have to go beyond the reef and most importantly, they have to trust each other. Cute story narration and would be enjoyed by kids.
April 24, 2025
A great summary - Listened to the Audible book by the same name. This super quick listen wraps up the feature film in less than 10 minutes. I enjoyed this shorty more than the movie. Great narrator. I could "see" the movie.
February 16, 2021
Because my son says it's kinda a book for girls. Four stars for the stickers. Four stars because he liked the book. That's all.
July 18, 2021
Me and my granddaughter: priceless
December 8, 2024
It was just a short version of the movie. It would be great for young children that couldn’t sit through the movie.
July 7, 2026
Loved it, nice cozy read
December 31, 2024
Quick and easy Childrens book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews