I hated growing up. And that time - just before the world turned upside down - when I was still a child but I felt it all leaking away - I fought that time with every sobbing breath. It took me a while to realize that you don't just - poof! - grow up. It happens bit by bit. I didn't like learning about adulthood's inevitability. (There are those who think I fight it still.)In Tricia Springstubb's Moonpenny Island, Flor and Sylvie are perfect friends. This is a good thing. They are the only 11-year-olds on Moonpenny Island. But the end of summer brings enormous changes. Sylvie leaves to go to school on the mainland and Flor is alone. Flor's older sister, perfect Cecelia, has started acting strangely. And her parents, well, they should not be acting that way at all.
On a small island, it can be easy to put people in slots. Flor must open her eyes. She needs to see people as more than just labels. Ceclia is not "perfect". Perry is more than just the "bad boy". Joe Hawkes is not "trash". And her best, best BEST friend, does not have to stay the same always.
A young visitor to the island - a paleontologist's daughter - a family crisis, and her own impetus nature force Flor to truly see her island, and her family, for the first time.
Good book. Read it.
I've always hated change myself, which is why its inevitability, and how we adapt to it, are perpetual themes in my work. Thanks for the lovely review!
ReplyDeleteTricia, thanks for the lovely book. Some people relish change. Me? Not so much. Another reason I liked this book so much.
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