Moonpenny Island by Tricia Springstubb (review)

Flor and her best friend Sylvie are the only eleven-year-old girls on Moonpenny Island, a rocky little bit of land in the middle of one of the Great Lakes. This suits Flor just fine, and the two friends spend their summers riding bikes, dodging the tourists, and avoiding the girls’ chaotic parents. Family drama nonetheless finds the pair, and at the beginning of sixth grade Sylvie is shipped off to a boarding school on the mainland while Flor must deal with both Sylvie’s absence and her own mother’s, who has left the island to care for Flor’s ailing grandmother. The quirky little island, with its quiet, Midwestern beauty and mild danger (the rocky terrain provides a few scares for Flor), offers a complementary background to Flor’s gentle ups and downs, while a few of its residents lend comic relief and/or compassionate life lessons. Much in the same vein as Frederick’s Absolutely Truly (BCCB 1/15), this will appeal to fans of modern family dramas with happy endings.