Library Media Connection (starred review)
This interesting and compelling read on an infrequently written-about topic will find an appropriate audience in a middle or a high school setting. Highly Recommended.

Horn Book
The book’s unique setting along with its vivid descriptions of Hawaiian history and culture are memorable. An author’s note gives more background. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., glos.

School Library Journal
The richly drawn characters and descriptions of living conditions give insight into the despair of the people and the hope that comes when a priest volunteers to live and work in the colony and bring order to its residents. This book is based on accounts of Hawaiians sent to Molokai and the work of Father Damien. However, the struggle to forgive, and the hope that love brings are timeless themes that are presented in a powerful way.-Denise Moore, O’Gorman Junior High School, Sioux Falls, SD

Fuse # 8 (Elizabeth Bird)

…it’s a relief to read a book as simultaneously engrossing and well researched as “Healing Water”. The kind of realistic fiction that’ll suck in the young readers the minute they start turning the pages.

Children’s Literature
This book is historical fiction about a leprosy colony on an isolated peninsula in Hawaii, not a joyful subject. Yet, Hostetter manages to write a story with heart, hope, and vigor, using a genuine voice. Contrary to my first impression of the topic, this is an uplifting book that tells of the miracle wrought through one man’s love of his fellow man. Hostetter ends with historical information about Father Damien’s life, leprosy, and the colony that benefited so much from his tender care.

Kirkus
… it’s a memorable story of hope in the most desperate of circumstances. (author’s notes, timeline, glossary, resources)

Kutztown Book Review
What was great about this book was learning the feelings of a young boy who knows he is about to die. It’s very easy to relate to him despite never having the disease. This story is one that can really inspire children to do research and learn more about the disease.

The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
The portrait of Father Damien, the Belgian priest who dedicates his life to helping the villagers, is rendered so compassionately (and realistically) that it doesn’t carry the taint of the stereotypical white man’s rescue; instead, he reminds the people of the values they carry inside them already and draws them away from the despair and grief that have temporarily kept them from helping and caring for one another. An extensive author’s note, glossary, and resource list are included; readers will find their compassion stirred and their interest piqued through this truly fine historical novel Recommended.

VOYA
Hostetter’s meticulous research on the history of the leprosy settlement results in a believable account of what it must have been like to be a leper at the Kalawao settlement around the 1870s and 1880s. She provides a good bibliography of resources plus information about leprosy, Father Damien, and Hawaiian culture and language, which is integrated into the story. Conversations between Pia and Damien, for example, are based on statements found in Damien’s letters. This well-written novel offers teens an interesting perspective of Hawaiian history through Pia’s first-person narrative, but it is also a story about anger, reconciliation, and acceptance.