A young girl travels back through the rich history of her island home in Pullen’s historical middle-grade tale.

Sixth grader Amelia is eager to become the tour guide for visitors to her namesake home, Amelia Island, a barrier island on the Florida coast. Her skeptical sister tells her that to be a guide, she must learn 11 facts about the island, all in one day. Amelia is surprised when the famed wooden statue of pirate Peg Leg Pete comes to life, offering his help. “SEARCH FOR TREASURE, SECRETS DEEP! / YEARS OF FOLK FOR YE TO MEET,” he sings. This educational narrative focuses on the consequential history of Amelia Island, a 13-mile-long territory claimed variously by France, England, Spain (twice), and the United States, among others. Each stop in her journey is a short, thoughtfully observed vignette based on factual information and leavened with entertaining character interactions and fantasy touches. (Amelia and other characters rap and sing; she reaches her destinations via an eagle, turtle tracks, a shark, a pirate ship, a train, and a shrimp boat.) After learning how one woman’s action in 1900 preserved what would become the island’s landmark Heritage Oak, Amelia leaps back 1,000 years to when the island was called Nepoyca, home to the Indigenous Timucuan people. The author provides a brief foreshadowing of conquests to come: A young Timucuan girl accepts Amelia’s gift of a seashell, saying, “Now this treasure will rest here with my peoples’ stones and bones.” Amelia has another meaningful encounter with singer and environmental activist MaVynee Betsch, the real-life “Beach Lady” who was instrumental in the preservation of the Nana Dune area at Amelia Island’s American Beach, a vacation haven for Black Americans during segregation. Before Amelia returns to the present, she’ll see eight flags raised over the island as it’s repeatedly claimed and renamed. Ivins’ pleasant illustrations offer bright colors and cartoon-style details that fit the author’s lively narrative. A word search, “Picture Clues,” riddles, a quiz, and more activities follow the story.

An engaging, thoughtful combination of educational travelogue and storybook entertainment.