Island Storm by Brian Floca illustrated by Sydney Smith

"Now take my hand and we'll go see the sea before the storm."
"You pull on me, I pull on you, and we decide to go on."

The text in this book is a lyrical poem. Two children head outside but they know a storm is approaching. There is an urgency to their journey. When the storm arrives they race home to the comfort of towels, dry clothes, dinner, a warm bed and blankets. But like all storms this one will eventually be spent, and the morning gives everyone the promise of a new day.

"A powerful thunderstorm is brewing on the island. Leaves whisper and branches shake. Waves crash and the sky grows close and dark. Two brave siblings bear witness, pulling each other through the woods and along the shore. They'll shelter soon, but not yet. First they need to feel it all."

This book is an equal partnership of exquisite writing and exquisite illustrations.

Here are some examples from the text:

"We stand on stones that lie like great bones, weathered and worn by water and time - by storms like the one that's headed our way."

"We pass the lighthouse, standing guard- a tower with a blinking eye, a tower with a lonesome cry, a welcome and a warning."

"Our town is eerie and empty, a stage without its show."

Walker Books blurb: A gorgeously illustrated jacketed hardback picture book for children which explores the extraordinary strength and changeability of the natural world and shines a light on those thrilling new experiences shared with siblings. Join in the journey as two siblings go hand-in-hand to experience the true power of a thunderstorm in their seaside town. They want to witness it all - the rise, the thrill of it all, and then the slow return to calm once the storm has passed and a new day begins.

Smith’s impressionistic watercolor and gouache illustrations convey not simply the horrifying strength of the storm, but also the way the light of day changes and shifts throughout the kids’ walk. The images plunge readers into heart-stopping moments, rendered real thanks to Floca’s incredibly evocative wordplay, capable of eliciting both fear and comfort. Readers will experience this tempest alongside the characters, every step of the way. Kirkus Star review

I would never use the phrase tranquil conclusion, but it is an interesting concept and does fit the ending. I was thinking, “I love a good storm as much as the next person, but I do not think I would venture as far away from home as these two kids did.”  However, I liked how Smith’s colors change as things start to “heat up” and the storm comes closer, becomes more intense, then as it leaves and brightens the day. Things are dark, but always have a form of light to them that allows a little hope. Cannonball Read

Sydney Smith (winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Award) is a master of water scenes in his illustrations. See more pages inside this book here.

Hopefully you have seen many of his previous books:

Check out this blog post

You can see more books by Brian Floca here.

Spirit of the Crocodile by Aaron Fa'aoso, Michelle Scott Tucker and Lyn White

The crocodile’s eyes were yellow, slit by a vertical pupil. 

The creature remained perfectly still, but it throbbed with life. 

Ezra felt goosebumps in spite of the afternoon heat, 

and took a few steps back.

‘Is that thing looking at you?’ asked Mason.

‘Nah. How could it be?’

It took me many days to read this book but I am not the target audience. I did find myself wondering though, why Spirit of the Crocodile has been short listed by the CBCA even though I think it was a good choice for their Notables list and secondly, I wonder how many readers (target audience ages 10+) will have enough reading stamina to stick with this story right to the end. Spirit of the Crocodile has been short listed by the CBCA as I mentioned and by ABIA and for the Queensland Literary Awards and it was awarded Highly Commended in the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. It clearly appeals to many adult judges of book competitions here in Australia. I have made some suggestions of extracts you could use to entice readers in your library to read this book later in this post because there are some moments of good tension which young readers will enjoy. 

Here are the CBCA judges comments:

Publisher blurb: Twelve-year old Ezra is an ordinary boy who lives on Saibai, an extraordinary Australian island. He loves a laugh, he loves his family, and - almost more than anything - he loves a dare. But when one of his dares goes wrong, Ezra realises he needs to make some decisions about helping out and measuring up. He learns that there's more than one way to look at, well, nearly everything. And as ever-increasing climate disasters threaten Saibai, Ezra and his best mate Mason must draw on their resilience and courage to help the community survive a massive out-of-season storm. Set in today's Torres Strait, Spirit of the Crocodile is a captivating novel that explores the importance of culture, community and place to a carefree kid on the cusp of growing up.

Strengths of this story/book:

• An appealing cover
• The decorations used to fill the cover title lettering and chapter headings (check out the link to the blog Paperbark Words to read more about this - see below)
• The exploration of extended family relationships in indigenous communities
• The family relationships, sibling relationships and friendships - I especially love Ezra's little sister Tarzie.
• Descriptions of the island landscape and village

"Saibai's tiny village of maybe a hundred buildings perched on the northwest coast of the island. The village looked out to sea on one side and was hemmed in by bird-filled brackish lagoons on the other. Mason's home and the airport were at one end of Main Road. The other end of the road ran past the jetty and the council depot before finishing at the cemetery."

• Details of indigenous cultural practices and beliefs

"Ezra looked at the evening star, knowing it was part of the Koedal constellation and thinking about how he himself belonged to that crocodile clan. He thought about what Mum had told him - that Koedal was fierce and fast moving, but patient and knowledgeable as well. When Ezra's male ancestors died they became part of the Koedal constellation. when Ezra's time came, he would too."

• Ezra is so proud of his mum (and dad).

"Ezra's mum Zipporah, a teacher's aide, worked in the junior classes at the school on Saibai. Zippie was a tall, intelligent woman, full of enthusiasm and energy. With her beautiful green eyes, not a few of the littlies in her classroom were madly in love with her. She was studying part-time and online to become a fully qualified teacher."

Here are some very detailed teachers notes from the publisher (via Pegi Williams). 

Here is the author talking about his island. Further thoughts:

This quote could be a good discussion point with your class:

"the conversation sometimes veered off into a discussion about marine pollution; about which containers sank straight away and which ones kept floating for weeks; about how many and what a menace they were; about the impact of other discarded objects like fishing gear, and plastics, and household rubbish."

Ezra has a different experience of moving from Primary to High school - leaving Saibai and heading to Thursday Island. I imagine most readers of this book will have no idea about this and again this could be a good topic to discuss especially since this experience is not unique to Australia - I met a family on Fair Isle (Scotland) and their son was about to head away to his high school in Lerwick having just finished Grade 6.

It is vital to explore the topic of global change, and the dangers and evidence are a daily and terrifying reality for island communities such as this one on Saibai I did find this aspect of the story 

"He knew that the seawall, seemingly so solid and sturdy, was in fact a desperate attempt to keep the remaining community safe from the encroaching waters of the sea. Two years ago he'd seen a tide come up so high that the sea water sloshed right over the wall and inundated the gardens of many of the houses fronting Main Road. It was as if the wall wasn't even there."

"The whole world knew that islands like Saibai were in danger - that special tress like his were in danger, that houses like Mason's were in danger - and no one in charge was doing a thing to stop it. They said all the words, but they never did anything real. Nothing."

Here is another quote which you could use for a discussion with an older group of students:

"What it might give me is an easier way through to the whitefella world ... So I can learn how to use their stuff to help our people. Like Eddie Mabo did. Like the uncles achieved in the High Court. I want to learn how to use their rules, their laws, their knowledge."

The action in this story really does not 'heat up' until page 175+ of the 242 pages. This makes me wonder if readers aged 10+ will 'stick with' this book right to the end. There are a couple of terrific scenes earlier in the story though. If I was sharing this book with a group in the library here are a couple of the scenes you could use for a book talk: When Ezra dives under the truck pages 101-103 and the awful incident with the spear fishing 'gun' pages 155-157.

Joy Lawn from Paperbark Words talks to the creators of this book.

It is books like this about community and culture that truly showcase what a different culture is like, what they contribute and how they bring two worlds together to create lives filled with joy, family and everything they need to live. It acknowledges the conflicts and knowledge gaps, and shows that using what you have at hand can be the best way to work towards making a difference. The Book Muse (this review has a good plot summary).

Spirit of the Crocodile is, in many ways, an extremely relatable, age-old story exploring the pain and excitement of growing up. However, its evocative descriptions of island life, kinship systems, trilingual code-switching, cross-cultural negotiation, and community resilience also offer a generous and original insight into Torres Strait culture. Story Links

There is real tension which the authors bring to a head and then resolve beautifully. The Australian Legend

Here is a 12 minute ABC Pacific radio review.

Companion book to read after Spirit of the Crocodile:

Swimming against the Storm

Having now read all six of the CBCA 2026 Younger Readers shortlisted titles I cannot help but observe that the CBCA Younger Readers short list for 2026 does seem to be a little contrived because the choices by the judges seem to fit into very specific categories. One graphic novel - Inked; a junior chapter book for the youngest readers - Tim tie-your shoelaces; a verse novel - Little Bones; the action thriller Run by Sarah Armstrong; a realistic fiction title The Paperbark Tree Committee; and one indigenous title - Spirit of the Crocodile.

Baby by Patricia MacLachlan

A searching, beautifully written story. Kirkus

Larkin lives with her artist mother, father and grandmother Byrd on an island (perhaps it is Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard). The island is overrun with visitors each summer so the residents really enjoy the quieter times when all the mainlanders have left.

We ate dinner as the sun set; candles on the table, the dinner a yearly celebration that tomorrow the island visitors would leave. The seasons on our island rose and fell in a rhythm like the rise and fall of the tides. Autumn was ours with quick colors, leaves flying until they were gone and we could see the shape of the island. The land rose and fell, too, from the north point where the lighthouse stood, curving down into valleys like hands holding pond water. Soon winter would come, the winds shaking the windows of the house, the sea black. Herring gulls would sit out of the wind on our porch, watching for spring that would come so fast and cold, we would hardly know it was there. Then summer, visitors would come off the ferry again, flooding us, the air heavy with their voices. And again, at summer’s end they would be gone like the tide, leaving behind small signs of themselves: a child’s pail with a broken handle, a tiny white sock by the water’s edge. Bits and pieces of them left like good-byes.

But have the summer visitors all left? At the end of chapter one Patricia MacLachlan hints that change is coming and it is coming tomorrow. The family and Larkin's special friend Lalo return from their tradition of farewelling the final ferry to find a baby on their doorstep.

“I cannot take care of her now, but I know she will be safe with you,” Papa read. “I have watched you. You will be a good family. I will lose her forever if you don’t do this, so please keep her. I will send money for her when I can. I will come back for her one day. I love her.”

Sophie's mother loves her baby but she has had to leave her behind. Papa warns Larkin the baby's mother will return.

“I like Sophie,” I said. “I don’t love her.” “Don’t,” said Papa. “Don’t love her.” He sighed. “I like her too,” he said after a moment. “Mama will love her soon,” I whispered. “If not already,” murmured Papa. “I’m scared,” I said after a while. “For Mama.” There was a silence.

There is a hint of sadness to come on the opening page of this book - it is a quote from a poem:

I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground. So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind: Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned. —from “Dirge Without Music” Edna St. Vincent Millay

This family are carrying a deep sadness. Mama and Papa won't talk to Larkin about her baby brother who only lived for one day. He never had a name and Larkin never saw his little face.

A tiny stone sat there, surrounded by big headstones with angels and flowers and names engraved on them. There was no name on the tiny stone, just the word BABY and a date that showed that the one buried there had only lived for one day.

A great topic for a PhD could be the portrayal of librarians, school librarians and Teacher-Librarians in middle grade books. I adore Ms Minifred she works at Larkin's school. She is a minor but also important character. She loves words, poetry (spoiler alert there is a love story in this book too) and Rebel (who) had come to the island with his Harley-Davidson motorcycle when he was eighteen and had never left. That was fifteen years ago. We had seen pictures of him then, and he hadn’t changed. He was still thin, and his hair stood straight up. He had a mysterious tattoo on his arm that said “Wild Eunice.”

I often think about collecting the opening sentences of books - perhaps using them as a way to share books with readers or even as writing inspiration. Here is the opening sentence of Baby:

In the evenings my father danced.

Here is another beautiful sentence: Byrd lifted Sophie and whirled her around until Sophie laughed. A small island plane flew over our heads and away. And Byrd’s pearls broke, showering Sophie and falling over the meadow grasses like tears.

Publisher blurb: Larkin's family welcomes Sophie into their home, caring for her and teaching her games and new words. They come to love this baby as their own, all the while knowing that eventually Sophie's mother will return one day to take her from them.

The writing in this book is so far above nearly every book I have read over the last few months. I read a huge number of kids books and while many are okay and a few are good, none quite reach the heights of the exquisite writing in this book. It should not have taken me so long to read Baby which was published in 1995. My friend first mentioned it back in 2012 when she read my post about the most famous Patrician MacLachlan book Sarah, Plain and Tall. The label on this post will take you to lots of other Patrician MacLachlan titles. In this post from 2020 I talk about themes in her books such as music, poetry, questions, and family relationships. You might also notice many books include loss. 

Awards for Baby by Patricia MacLachlan:

• WINNER 1994 ALA Best Books for Young Adults
• WINNER 1996 South Carolina Children’s Book Award
• WINNER 1994 Texas Bluebonnet Award

There are only a handful of children's middle grade authors that I put into the category of superb - Patricia Maclachlan; Kate DiCamillo; Sara Pennypacker; Kevin Henkes; Patricia Reilly Giff; Katherine Paterson; Jason Reynolds and Katherine Applegate from the US. Katherine Rundell and Onjali Q Rauf from the UK. And Zana Fraillon, Judith Rossell, Deb Abela, Tristan Bancks and Shirley Marr from Australia.

Companion books:

The Naming of Tishkin Silk

The Summer we found the baby

Foxlight

Here is the full poem by Edna St Vincent Millay:

“I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground. 

So it is and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind: 

Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned 

With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned. 

Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you. 

Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust. 

A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew, 

A formula, a phrase remains, - but the best is lost. 

The answers quick and keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love, - 

They are gone. They are gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled 

Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve. 

More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world. 

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave 

Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind; 

Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave. I know. 

But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.”

The Red Lemon by Bob Staake

"Over the hills and along the blue sea, 'The lemons are ready!' shouts Farmer McPhee."

The farmer loves his lemons. The people love these lemons. They make sherbet, drinks, cookies, cakes, muffins and shakes. But one day a rogue lemon appears - it is red!

"Who'd squeeze this red thing in their afternoon tea? Who'd buy a red lemon from Farmer McPhee?"

Famer McPhee throws the red lemon over to a nearby island but as you your reading companion or library group might predict lemons (no matter what colour) contain seeds and so if the conditions are right then ...

Does this book have a deeper message about acceptance of difference; trust; risk taking; perfection, consumerism (look closely at all the advertising banners) - probably, but it will also just be a fun book to read to your young preschooler. You could also talk about the way something that was discarded turned into something special and there is a whole discussion you could have with older students about the fate of the original orchard or island. Here are a few discussion questions. It would be fantastic to copy the double page spread of the futuristic red lemon town to read all the advertising signs. The one that says McPhee Memorial Building might give you a slight chill. Hopefully if you can find this book you will agree it is one of those picture books that will work equally well with young children and your older primary group.

"The Red Lemon" tells the tale of jolly Farmer McPhee, a perfectionist who one day finds a red lemon, a freak of nature, in his pristine orchard. He hurls the offending fruit onto a nearby deserted island. Little does McPhee know that he has just planted the seed that, long after his own orchard has gone to weed, will be the foundation for the thriving tourist destination Red Lemon Island. We see the island 200 years in the future, complete with its own Air Red airline and Bitter End discothèque. Bob Staake

A quirky city has evolved with an economy based on these fabulously sweet red lemons, attracting people from all over the world. Kirkus

Here is the publisher blurb: In this thought-provoking tale reminiscent of Seuss, Farmer McPhee finds a red lemon in his orchard and cries, "It's red as a stop sign! It's red as a rose! I can't have red lemons where yellow fruit grows! Imagine a world where lemonade's red? Where once-yellow cupcakes are crimson instead?" As he tosses the red lemon across the water, he can't imagine that it will land on a small island, sprout a seed, and someday bring forth an orchard of lemon trees...where people will travel to from all over, to try the red lemons that are "six times as sweet!"

Here are some more books about lemons. 

Companion book:

And if you want to talk about planting things try to find this vintage book:

The Lollipop Tree

Here is another Bob Staake book I really loved:

The Book of Gold

I did a search for other books by Bob Staake and now I have added his name to my library borrowing list for next week.

Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery

Oh, it seems so wonderful that I'm going to live with you and belong to you. 

I've never belonged to anybody—not really.

That child is hard to understand in some respects. But I believe she'll turn out all right yet. And there's one thing certain, no house will ever be dull that she's in."

I've joined an online US Facebook children's book club. Next month our book is the famous US classic Anne of Green Gables (1908). Until last month I had not read this book. I shared this with one of our esteemed children's literature experts here in Australia and she was utterly shocked and so I felt compelled to now read Anne of Green Gables. I hunted around for a cheaper print copy but eventually I settled on reading an ebook. If you haven't read this classic here are some detailed notes about the themes and plot. You could also consider listening to the audio book - here is a five-minute sample. I also found some free examples. 

Did I love Anne of Green Gables? Not really. There were parts I enjoyed especially early in the story but after a few chapters I found it a bit repetitive and I grew a little tired of anticipating that every 'activity' would end in a disaster for Anne. 

What parts did I enjoy? 

• The rich vocabulary with words like betokened; wincey; alabaster brow; irreproachable; capricious; coruscations; prosaic; and tenacity

• The beautifully expressed descriptions of nature: 

" ... the orchard on the slope below the house was in a bridal flush of pinky-white bloom, hummed over by a myriad of bees."

"Very green and neat and precise was that yard, set about on one side with great patriarchal willows and the other with prim Lombardies. Not a stray stick nor stone was to be seen ..."

"Above the bridge the pond ran up into fringing groves of fir and maple and lay all darkly translucent in their wavering shadows. Here and there a wild plum leaned out from the bank like a white-clad girl tip-toeing to her own reflection. From the marsh at the head of the pond came the clear, mournfully-sweet chorus of the frogs."

"On both sides of the house was a big orchard, one of apple-trees and one of cherry-trees, also showered over with blossoms; and their grass was all sprinkled with dandelions. In the garden below were lilac-trees purple with flowers, and their dizzily sweet fragrance drifted up to the window on the morning wind."

"There were rosy bleeding-hearts and great splendid crimson peonies; white, fragrant narcissi and thorny, sweet Scotch roses; pink and blue and white columbines and lilac-tinted Bouncing Bets; clumps of southernwood and ribbon grass and mint; purple Adam-and-Eve, daffodils, and masses of sweet clover white with its delicate, fragrant, feathery sprays ..."

• I loved some of the characters especially Matthew Cuthbert and Diana. I also appreciated the tiny insights into Marilla and her slowly developing love of Anne. 

• The touches of humor:

"If Marilla had said that Matthew had gone to Bright River to meet a kangaroo from Australia Mrs. Rachel could not have been more astonished. She was actually stricken dumb for five seconds."

"She thought in exclamation points. A boy! Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert of all people adopting a boy! From an orphan asylum! Well, the world was certainly turning upside down! She would be surprised at nothing after this! Nothing!"

"But if you call me Anne please call me Anne spelled with an E. ... A-n-n looks dreadful, but A-n-n-e looks so much more distinguished."

"I have no hard feelings for you, Mrs. Barry. I assure you once for all that I did not mean to intoxicate Diana and henceforth I shall cover the past with the mantle of oblivion."

"Yes; but cakes have such a terrible habit of turning out bad just when you especially want them to be good,"

"Almost a month having elapsed since the liniment cake episode, it was high time for her to get into fresh trouble of some sort, little mistakes, such as absentmindedly emptying a pan of skim milk into a basket of yarn balls in the pantry instead of into the pigs' bucket ... "

"I've learned a new and valuable lesson today. Ever since I came to Green Gables I've been making mistakes, and each mistake has helped to cure me of some great shortcoming. The affair of the amethyst brooch cured me of meddling with things that didn't belong to me. The Haunted Wood mistake cured me of letting my imagination run away with me. The liniment cake mistake cured me of carelessness in cooking. Dyeing my hair cured me of vanity. I never think about my hair and nose now—at least, very seldom. And today's mistake is going to cure me of being too romantic."

• Character descriptions:

Anne - "A child of about eleven, garbed in a very short, very tight, very ugly dress of yellowish-gray wincey. She wore a faded brown sailor hat and beneath the hat, extending down her back, were two braids of very thick, decidedly red hair. Her face was small, white and thin, also much freckled; her mouth was large and so were her eyes, which looked green in some lights and moods and gray in others."

Anne - " ... the ordinary observer; an extraordinary observer might have seen that the chin was very pointed and pronounced; that the big eyes were full of spirit and vivacity; that the mouth was sweet-lipped and expressive; that the forehead was broad and full; in short, our discerning extraordinary observer might have concluded that no commonplace soul inhabited the body of this stray woman-child of whom shy Matthew Cuthbert was so ludicrously afraid."

"Diana was sitting on the sofa, reading a book which she dropped when the callers entered. She was a very pretty little girl, with her mother's black eyes and hair, and rosy cheeks, and the merry expression which was her inheritance from her father.

• And of course Anne's relentless imagination. 

How do you feel about the love story? I was a little frustrated that it took so long to reach this scene but I guess the stage is set for the sequel/s. Will I keep reading this series? Probably not but I might try to find the television series. 

Confession - I have been to Prince Edward Island twice (and yes I do live in Australia) but when I visited I had no interest in this famous book. My visit to island was fabulous though, because I had an introduction to a resident - a lady and her husband who were entitled to called themselves Islanders. I had been teaching in Alberta and a wonderful library volunteer had a connection with a family who lived on PEI. I am so glad I took hold of my courage and phoned them. It was an evening to remember ending with the wife and I sitting in front of their fabulous bookshelves exploring her huge picture book collection! I am sad I no longer remember their names. 

"I've always heard that Prince Edward Island was the prettiest place in the world, and I used to imagine I was living here, but I never really expected I would. It's delightful when your imaginations come true, isn't it?"

Here are our Book Club titles for 2025:

Candle Island Lauren Wolk

"Six mysteries waited for me on Candle Island.

One involved a bird.

The second a hidden room.

A song the third.

A poet the fourth.

A cat fifth.

A fire sixth.

Each of them exciting in its own way.

But none more interesting than the mystery I took there with me."

Begin with the cover - I really like it and after reading this book you will want to go back and see how an important story element has been incorporated into this illustration. 

Here is the quote on the opening page - it is very pertinent to this story:

"As music is the poetry of sound, so is painting the poetry of sight." James McNeill Whistler

I think sensitive readers (with some reading stamina) aged 10+ will really enjoy Candle Island. I had no idea this story was set in the 1970s (see the Kirkus review).  I loved the island setting and the way Lucretia and her mum were keeping the identity of the artist of their famous paintings a secret kept me turning the pages knowing that they were sure to be discovered. I was also happy that there was no twist at the end and that the bad things that happened on the island were all down to those awful rich kids as Lucretia, Bastian and Murdock suspected. If you look at the labels I have assigned this post you can see the plot covers a lot of things - Lucretia finds a wounded baby bird (an osprey) and she nurses him back to health; there are three summer kids who are dreadful bullies; there is an art theft; the island is small and suspicious of strangers; Lucretia and her mum are experiencing terrible pain after the death of her father; and each of the three island kids has a special talent. Oh, and I do need to mention two more things - mum cooks delicious food in this book and I adore the town librarian (I think I need to make a list of books that feature very special librarians).

Curious readers might want to know more about osprey birds after reading this book. Also Lucretia is named after Lucretia Mott - a Quaker suffragist and anti-slavery campaigner. You might also want to learn more about the scale of being or the Great Chain of Being. 

Candle Island is set on an island - I know that is obvious - so I was not surprised to read Lauren Wolk lives on Cape Cod. I really enjoy visiting islands and I enjoy books set on islands and even though I have not been there for some reason Maine, USA has a special fascination for me.

Here are some text quotes:

"When I let myself spill onto the canvas like melted wax, I built a world where I felt exactly right, entirely who I really was. Free. Unwatched. Alone."

"He was singing a story. A sad one that suddenly became something else and then something else again, the colour changing as the story did, from a radiant magenta to some kind of violet. And then a gold I rarely heard."

"When I hit the water, my head exploded. Every particle of my body panicked. It was as if I'd been injected with frozen mint. As if my skin was size too small. As if I'd been scoured with a wire brush dipped in acid. All of that, all at once."

The town librarian - notice the placement of the word beautiful: "She was old. Thin. In a black dress with a lace collar. Her hair was a beautiful white, twisted into a crown on top of her head. Her skin was the same deep brown as my eyes. ... At her full height she was smaller than I was, but she seemed much taller."

"The most common form of despair is not being who you are - Soren Kierkegaard"

There are certain authors for children that are capable of the kind of writing that is not merely full of strong character growth and interesting plotting, but legitimately lovely prose as well. On a single page I found lines that end with glimpses of a “bruise-blue sea.” Or, when Lucretia thinks about befriending the prickly Murdock, she is thinking of, “How adding even a little yellow to the coldest gray could warm it toward something altogether new. But Murdock was a girl, not a painting. I would have to remember that.” I mark in my copy of this book the lines I like best. What’s remarkable about them is how seamlessly they’re integrated into the plot. Betsy Bird SLJ

And bottom line, this is a beautiful book set on a beautiful island off the coast of Maine. It will linger in your heart. Sonder Books

Wolk’s latest novel wonderfully portrays new relationships while tackling grief and self-discovery. The characters are well developed, and readers can see parts of themselves and those they know. The book also has several small mysteries that readers will be itching to solve. While a work of historical fiction, the story has the modern feel of a quiet life without current technology and trends. School Library Journal

Here is an interview with Lauren Wolk.

I spied this book some weeks ago and knowing how much I loved every previous book by Lauren Wolk, I added it to my 'to read' and 'to buy' list. Luckily for me this book has appeared in the library where I work as a volunteer, so I borrowed it and read it over one or two days. This is a longish book with 340 pages, but the print size makes it easy to read and of course Lauren Wolk creates a page turning story with characters you really care about. The library has a copy because this book was sold as a Scholastic Australia Book Club title (issue 5, 2025 AUS$12). We are having extreme rain conditions in my city and so today (after some very necessary chores) I snuggled down beside my heater and finished read Candle Island.

Publisher (Scholastic Australia) blurb: Lucretia and her mother have come to tiny Candle Island, Maine (Population: Summer, 986; Winter, 315) with a secret to keep ... and to escape—escape memories of the car accident that killed her father and escape the journalists that hound her mother, a famous and reclusive artist. The rocky coast and ocean breeze are a welcome respite for Lucretia, who dedicates her summer days to painting, exploring the island, and caring for an orphaned osprey chick. But Candle Island also has secrets—a hidden room in her new house, a mysterious boy with a beautiful voice—and just like the strong tides that surround the shores, they will catch Lucretia in their wake. With an unforgettable New England setting and a complex web of relationships old and new, this is a powerful story about art, loss and the power of being true to your own voice.

There is a huge error in my Scholastic Australia copy of this book. This book was originally published in hardcover by the Penguin Young Readers Group [9780593698549]. My copy in paperback is a new 'edition' BUT the imprint page does not acknowledge the original publisher or date of publication AND the author's name is spelt incorrectly as Wolke. This is funny but also disturbing. 

Other books I have loved by Lauren Wolk:

Wolf Hollow

My Own Lightning

Beyond the Bright Sea

Echo Mountain

Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt

My father is with God, just as the minister here says. But God didn’t call him there because God had work for him to do. My father died because he was doing God’s work here. 

He wanted the people of Malaga Island to live in a place that was their own.”

I started reading this book four days ago, but I kept having to put it down because there are so many utterly terrible scenes. On the one hand I wanted to keep reading but I also felt the need to protect myself from the vicious scenes. 

This book is utterly harrowing and upsetting but I really do appreciate the journey Gary D Schmidt has taken me on. About halfway through this story I began to worry there might not be a happy ending so I decided to skim through a few reviews. Some said the ending was tragic, but I also read that the ending was hopeful. This means that when the most dreadful and devastating things happened to Turner, I simply did not believe them. 

I should have read the Kirkus Star review more carefully:

There can be no happy ending to this story, but the telling is both beautiful and emotionally honest, both funny and piercingly sad.

Bookseller blurb: Set in 1912 and centered on a historical event, the moving and compelling coming-of-age story of Turner, a white minister's son who discovers joy through his friendship with a black girl, Lizzie, and finds his own strength and voice after painful losses transform his life. In this powerful and moving novel, Turner Buckminster, a preacher's son newly arrived in in Phippsburg, Maine, meets Lizzie Bright Griffin, a strong, spirited black girl from Malaga Island, a nearby island community founded by former slaves. All of Phippsburg, especially Turner's repressive father, disapproves of their friendship, but Turner ignores them; Lizzie is the wisest, most knowledgeable person he ever met. On top of knowing everything, she can row a boat and pitch a baseball like a champ. The town's move to turn the island into a tourist attraction destroys the powerless community, a historical event that occurred in 1912. It is the catalyst for a wave of personal losses that shakes Turner's world but leaves him whole.

Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy is a Young Adult title and I would say this book is best for ages 14+. The treatment of and prejudice towards African American citizens as explained in this story set in 1912 in Maine is certain to shock teenage readers here in modern Australia.  It is also important to read the back notes which explain the actual historical events that inspired this novel.

If you are book talking Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy I would use the four covers I have shared above as a way to interest your library or class group. In the light of my earlier comments it is interesting to think about the age intention of these cover designs. I wouldn't use this with a high school group but I do wish I could find a soundtrack of all the hymns Turner plays to Mrs Cobb. 

Take a look at this review. Here are some text quotes from this book:

Opening sentence: Turner Buckminster had lived in Phippsburg, Maine, for fifteen minutes shy of six hours. He had dipped his hand in its waves and licked the salt from his fingers. He had smelled the sharp resin of the pines. He had heard the low rhythm of the bells on the buoys that balanced on the ridges of the sea. He had seen the fine clapboard parsonage beside the church where he was to live, ...

He didn’t know how much longer he could stand it. Maybe somewhere out West there really were Territories that he could light out to, where being a minister’s son wouldn’t matter worth a . . . well, worth a darn. He hoped so, because here, being a minister’s son mattered a whole lot, and pretending that it didn’t matter to him was starting to peck at his soul.

Readers let's meet Lizzie Bright: She looked out at the thrusting tide, clenched her toes into the loose sand, and smelled the salty, piney air. At thirteen, she was, as her grandfather liked to remind her, one year older than the century, and so a good deal wiser. Too wise to stay on Malaga Island, he said, but she planned to stay there forever. Where else, after all, did the tide set a pale crab on your toe?

“More to the point,” said the tallest of the group—the one with the most expensive frock coat, the most expensive top hat, and the most expensive shiny shoes—“one less colored on Malaga Island.” Laughter from the group, louder than the gulls. “Though the issue is much larger than one colored.” His eye searched the pine shadows across the water for the girl, as if he sensed her watching him. His hands moved to the lapels of his coat. “The issue is how to relieve Malaga Island of the girl, her family, her neighbors, what she would call her house, what they would call their town.”

“Reverend Buckminster, behold the cross we bear in Phippsburg: a ragtag collection of hovels and shacks, filled with thieves and lazy sots, eking out a life by eating clams from the ocean mud, heedless of offers of help from either state or church, a blight on the town’s aspirations, a hopeless barrier to its future.”

The afternoon had become as hot as meanness, and since the shirt he was wearing had enough starch in it to mummify two, maybe three, pharaohs, he began to feel he could hardly breathe. The only thing that saved him from absolute suffocation was the sea breeze somersaulting and fooling, first ahead, then behind, running and panting like a dog ready to play.

In the clearing, sixty graves lay quiet and still, restful. Wood crosses with printed names too faded to read stood at their heads. Some had piles of pink-grained stones gathered from around the island placed carefully at the foot of each cross. Some had sprigs of violets, some fresh evergreen boughs.

She took a deep breath, and she wasn’t just breathing in the air. She breathed in the waves, the sea grass, the pines, the pale lichens on the granite, the sweet shimmering of the pebbles dragged back and forth in the surf, the fish hawk diving to the waves, the dolphin jumping out of them. She would not ebb.

And suddenly, Turner had a thought that had never occurred to him before: he wondered if his father really believed a single thing he was saying. And suddenly, Turner had a second thought that had never occurred to him before: he wondered if he believed a single thing his father was saying.

Turner felt the cold of the place come into him. He could not move. It was as though the bricks surrounded him and him alone. He felt that he would never escape them, never see anyone he loved again, never see the ocean waves again. That he would always be cold, and the cold would be in him more than around him.

Companion book:

Stella by Starlight

You may have read my previous post about the Newbery Award where I set myself a challenge to read more of the honor book titles. Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy (2004) was one title on my list - partly because the title sounded intriguing and partly because I recognised the author's name.

I previously read these books by Gary D Schmidt:

Orbiting Jupiter

The Wednesday Wars

Flying Through Water by Mamle Wolo

We all grabbed bailing vessels. Thunder cracked, and lightning streaked across the sky like a celestial tree revealing its branches for a split second. I felt as though I were caught in a different dimension where death was as present as life, and everything was elemental and terrifying.

I thought about this world and the things we humans struggled for, and all the ways in which we imprisoned ourselves, and each other. It seemed to me that greed was just as much of a prison as poverty, only worse. Here I was alone on this island in the middle of nowhere, stripped of whatever meager possessions I had ever owned. And yet in nature’s heart I felt liberated and endowed with a splendor beyond anything humans could ever purchase. 

What greater wealth was there in this world than freedom?

This story is told in three parts. Sena describes his life in Ghana and his special relationship with is grandfather who tells him stories of his village life before the artificial creation of Volta Lake and the Akosombo Dam. Sena lives with his mother, sister and baby brother. They are very poor but he has been able to go to school. His education is not perfect and the teachers are often absent and they do beat the students but if he can sit the final exam there is the promise of further education and hopefully a better life for his family. But there is a young man who visits their village with promises to the young boys of work and money and perhaps even adventures. Sena is suspicious of this flashy man who they call 'Jack of Diamonds' and he has heard stories of boys sent to work with cattle - boys who are given little or no food and forced to work in dreadful conditions. Sena is determined not to follow this path but then his grandfather dies, his mother is gravely ill with malaria and his best friend declares he is heading away to work because he is sure the promises from 'Jack of Diamonds' are true. 

Sena loves his family and he really wants to help them so after his final exam he leaves a letter under his sister's pillow and he heads off - what he does not know is that this will be a journey into hell. So begins part two. Sena is taken to work as a slave for a cruel master catching fish and diving deep into treatrous waters to untangle the fishing nets. He is given virtually no food, he is beaten and the group of about ten boys are forbidden to talk to each other except about their tasks. Yes this is illegal human trafficking. Can Sena escape? Where will he go? What will happen if he is caught? He does befriend one of the boys and then that boy is killed - possibly murdered by their master - so now Sena must leave. He arrived at this place terrified of water and unable to swim. After several months of this cruel work he can now swim but he is still terrified of the dark water and the waves and he has not learned how to float. Part 3 is all about survival because he does find his way to a small deserted island with only monkeys for company but of course he must also find a way to get back to his family. He also carries huge guilt about the boys he left behind and he has made a new wonderful discovery of a special and rare underwater animal - the lake Manatee. The book ends with a sense of hope for the future for Sena himself but also for other trafficked boys and hopefully also for this very special wild creature who is also trapped in the waters of this lake.

Here are a few text quotes from this book:

Treatment by teachers: The humiliation hurt almost more than the lashes, but I hardened myself to it even though it upset me that the teachers beat us when they knew how hard our lives were. They knew we weren’t late out of laziness or what they called I-don’t-care-ism. But I got used to that too—the callousness of powerful people and the way they didn’t care what was fair.

Kekeli - a description: She had a round face, and when she smiled it was as if the distance between her lips and chin had been measured with a protractor and traced with a compass, their curves were so perfectly parallel. Her laughter was like that of a baby discovering funniness for the first time and too little to contain it. She could spark off the whole class.

Grandfather the storyteller: He said stories took us where our legs couldn’t go and showed us what our eyes couldn’t see, and that the best thing about books was that they were still there when storytellers were gone. I could see what he meant when I thought that one day, he wouldn’t be here to tell us stories anymore—a prospect I quickly banished. I loved his stories more than any I’d read in books.

Jack of Diamonds: Everyone was excited and following his every move, but something in me held back. I wondered if I was the only one to whom his mannerisms seemed somehow familiar, as if he’d studied them on someone else, like Shatta Wale or Burna Boy. Perhaps I was just being silly, but it made me uneasy that we couldn’t see his eyes, because he never took off his sunglasses. And it was amazing how he kept that black jacket on in this heat.

Publisher blurb: Sena treasures his life in rural Ghana-playing soccer, working the family farm, striving to do his best at school-but he is increasingly aware of his family's precarious security in the face of poverty. When an alluring gentleman comes to town to befriend local teenagers, offering promises of a better future, it only takes one more unsettling turn of events to send Sena into the clutches of human traffickers. Sena's ordeal, escape, and remarkable survival makes for a page-turning adventure of self-discovery and empowerment.

Searing and eye-opening, readers will devour Sena’s story in a day. School Library Journal

Wolo skillfully sheds light on the horrific practice of the trafficking of children, and the grim situations many are forced to live and work in—but she also tells a story of hope and perseverance. The vividly described settings include imagery that paints the scenes for readers as the story unfolds. A powerful look at human suffering and the will to survive. Kirkus Star review

Jack of Diamonds turns out to be a pied piper for a human trafficking network and thus, Sena finds that he has been sold into indentured labour to a fisherman who employs a motley crew of children, some as young as three, in a bid to compete with foreign trawlers working the Volta Lake. Cold and brutish, Sena’s master is a formidable antagonist, the like of which populates Dickensian novels, but the real villain here is the systemic poverty that has left intergenerational scars and threatens the possibility of a future for its under aged victims, who are malnourished, overworked, and constantly exposed to the risk of drowning. The Lagos Review

Fans of Hatchet and A Long Walk to Water will find Flying Through water an engrossing book. Sadly I have no idea how I discovered this book - I must have seen it recommended somewhere.

Listen to an audio sample here. This book only in hardcover so far is too expensive here in Australia (AUS$32.50) but I read a copy on a Kindle.

I recommend this moving and atmospheric story for readers aged 12+ especially those with an interest in social justice. Your senior students could also investigate the work of our Australian organisation that assists victims of modern slavery - The Freedom Hub.

I recently read this book which also explores the topic of human trafficking:

Stitched up