Exciting, tender, and absolutely wonderful.
Twelve-year-old Jake has great expectations for another wonderful summer on Dewees Island, a private island and nature sanctuary in South Carolina, in this follow-up to The Islanders (2021).
Jake wants to reunite with his friends Lovie and Macon and have a new adventure. Most of all he hopes his ex-Army father will be able to heal from his injuries; Dad has become emotionally withdrawn and refuses help. Jake’s friends, grandmother Honey, and Fire Chief Rand, his father’s childhood friend, are all waiting to greet them with hugs. During a quick visit to Honey’s newly modernized nature center, the kids spot a newspaper article that supplies their next adventure: hunting for Blackbeard’s treasure. A metal detector, research help from Honey, and memories from Rand and Dad set them on their way. There are adventures galore, encounters with a mysterious local treasure hunter, and lots of laughter (and some tears) in the changing relationship dynamics between Jake, his dad, and his friends. Two boys, cousins from the city with bad attitudes whose actions cause danger to protected animals, are an ongoing menace. The authors keep the action moving at a rapid pace, filling the pages with vivid sensory descriptions while masterfully interweaving historical facts, wildlife information, and gentle lessons. Jake’s first-person narration allows for self-knowledge and self-doubt while demonstrating capability for insight and compassion. Scattered black-and-white sketches illuminate the activities. Most characters present White; Macon is Black.
Exciting, tender, and absolutely wonderful. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: June 14, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5344-2730-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and...
Catrina narrates the story of her mixed-race (Latino/white) family’s move from Southern California to Bahía de la Luna on the Northern California coast.
Dad has a new job, but it’s little sister Maya’s lungs that motivate the move: she has had cystic fibrosis since birth—a degenerative breathing condition. Despite her health, Maya loves adventure, even if her lungs suffer for it and even when Cat must follow to keep her safe. When Carlos, a tall, brown, and handsome teen Ghost Tour guide introduces the sisters to the Bahía ghosts—most of whom were Spanish-speaking Mexicans when alive—they fascinate Maya and she them, but the terrified Cat wants only to get herself and Maya back to safety. When the ghost adventure leads to Maya’s hospitalization, Cat blames both herself and Carlos, which makes seeing him at school difficult. As Cat awakens to the meaning of Halloween and Day of the Dead in this strange new home, she comes to understand the importance of the ghosts both to herself and to Maya. Telgemeier neatly balances enough issues that a lesser artist would split them into separate stories and delivers as much delight textually as visually. The backmatter includes snippets from Telgemeier’s sketchbook and a photo of her in Día makeup.
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and unable to put down this compelling tale. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-54061-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...
At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.
Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975
ISBN: 0312369816
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
