DANGER, DOLPHINS, AND GINGER BEER

The likable, capable Grants—Sally (12) and her brothers John (10) and Andy (8)—are sailing around the world with their widower father, who has taken a time-out from the journey and is conveniently away when this adventure opens. The children are camping in the Virgin Islands, having promised to contact a nearby hotel should they encounter trouble. And trouble is what they get, by the sea-full. First, twins Jan and Jon, who've already staked out the Grants' campsite as their own, issue an eviction notice. Then a speedboat runs over a pregnant dolphin, and Sally tows her to a hospital for treatment. Next, the same boat blows up near their campsite, leaving behind a cache of cocaine hidden in its fender. John and Andy are kidnapped by drug-runners; Sally and the twins perform a daring rescue. Competently related from Sally's perspective, the story has a will-she-or-won't-she plot about her ability to look after her motherless brothers. She can, and she will. For all the well- paced action, this first novel is, above all, a simple sibling tale. (Fiction. 10-12)