The Islands of Elsewhere
-
- $10.99
-
- $10.99
Publisher Description
With hints of magic and plenty of adventure, this seaside story of siblings on a hunt for treasure is perfect for fans of The Penderwicks and The Vanderbeekers.
Not many kids have an island in their backyard, but suddenly, the Snolly sisters have three. They’re staying at Granddaddy’s seaside property for the summer, which includes the mysterious Fairy Islands: Fairy, Little Fairy, and Ghost. The people in Misty Cove call them “in-between places,” and say they’re full of magic—a magic that gets inside you.
But ten-year-old Bee Snolly doesn’t believe in magic—she just wants to help her ill Granddaddy. And if she and her sisters can unravel the mystery of the Fairy Islands in time, they may discover a long-buried secret that could help them all.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Arriving from Vancouver to the tiny town of Misty Cove with their mother and baby brother Theodore, a trio of sisters become immediately enchanted with their ailing grandfather's bluff-situated property, which overlooks the sea and includes the Fairy Islands: Fairy, Little Fairy, and Ghost. Cast by locals as a magical liminal place, the islands figure prominently in legends about the sisters' great-great-grandmother Lucy Juniper, a pirate—and possibly a witch—who may have left behind buried treasure. Though scornful of whimsies and unwilling to believe that the girls may be the recipients of familial magic, pragmatic 10-year-old Bee enlists Hattie, 12, and Plum, eight, on a quest to locate the loot, imagining that finding it would allow the family to assist their beloved, increasingly forgetful granddaddy. Via a cozy, magic-dusted family story that features a bewitching setting (the remote village seems to "blend into the wilderness at the edges"), Fawcett (The School Between Winter and Fairyland) creates endearing and affectionate characters with realistic tensions—especially between scientifically minded Bee and her more imaginative family members—whose individual strengths help solve the central mystery. Protagonists default to white. Ages 8–12.
