JEAN CLAUDE'S ISLAND
By
The author of The Orphelines has done it again with a story that is all about belonging. Jean Claude isn't really sure that he belongs in his family. There must be some mistake. He is too old for the attentions lavished on his baby sister and too young for the freedom of his older brother and sister. He is just the right size for trouble. Whenever the effects of his latest escapade make it necessary, he broodingly grabs his night-shirt and moves across the road to his grandparents. But his grandmother is not sure that she belongs on this island. She always refers to it as, ""Your island"", and reminisces about her own, off the coast of France. When his grandparents leave to investigate her inheritance on ""her"" old island, things get worse for Jean Claude for there is the added fear that they will never return. Of course they do and his grandmother comes home calling it, ""My island"". There is an interesting sub-plot showing the continuing line of belonging that goes in between Jean Claude's father and his beloved grandfather. It is a heartwarming book. Its simple vocabulary manages to catch the lilt of French Canada.