An instant New York Times bestseller!
"Storytelling for young readers at its finest--equal parts summer
adventure and environmental suspense...[a] love letter to family,
friendship, and the natural world." --Kwame Alexander, New York Times
bestselling author of The Crossover
From New York Times bestselling author Mary Alice Monroe comes a
beautiful story of friendship, loss, and the healing power of nature in
her first book for middle grade readers.
Eleven-year-old Jake's life has just turned upside-down. His father was
wounded in Afghanistan, and his mother is going to leave to care for
him. That means Jake's spending the summer on tiny Dewees Island with
his grandmother. The island is a nature sanctuary--no cars or paved
roads, no stores or restaurants. To make matters worse, Jake's
grandmother doesn't believe in cable or the internet. Which means Jake
has no cell phone, no video games...and no friends. This is going to be
the worst summer ever!
He's barely on the island before he befriends two other kids--Macon,
another "summer kid," and Lovie, a know-it-all who lives there and shows
both Jake and Macon the ropes of life on the island. All three are
struggling with their own family issues and they quickly bond, going on
adventures all over Dewees Island. Until one misadventure on an
abandoned boat leads to community service. Their punishment? Mandatory
duty on the Island Turtle Team. The kids must do a daily dawn patrol of
the beach on the hunt for loggerhead sea turtle tracks. When a turtle
nest is threatened by coyotes, the three friends must find a way to
protect it. Can they save the turtle nest from predators? Can Jake's
growing love for the island and its inhabitants (be they two-legged,
four-legged, feathered, or finned) help to heal his father?
