August Isle

February 1, 2019
A family mythos spun with thread as fragile as tears can tangle into knots. Sometimes the threads break.Miranda's grandparents on her mother's side have always been a secret, one of the many mysteries that lie between her and her beautiful yet elusive mother. The summer before eighth grade, Miranda is mired in a web of fears and anxiety. The fabric connecting her and her mother feels threadbare. Her mother, a freelance photographer who travels the world, always appears so fearless. But she is distant, and Miranda is desperate to uncover what she must've done to make her mother always choose to leave her. When a great career opportunity arises for her mom to go to Argentina while her lawyer dad is preparing a big case, Miranda gets the chance to visit August Isle and stay with one of her mom's old friends who has a daughter her age. Why has mom never visited the place where she grew up? Finally, she might be able to answer her questions. The result is a beautifully written story, lush as a Florida mangrove. Standish introduces young readers to a concept that's foreign to many at their age: that grown-ups can suffer deep emotional pain same as young people. Miranda is white, and the book adheres to the white default; her mom's friend's husband is Indian, and their children are biracial and brown-skinned.An emotional journey of family, friendship, loss, and healing. (Fiction. 10-14)

COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

March 1, 2019

Gr 4 Up-The summer before Miranda starts eighth grade, her parents send her to August Isle, FL, to stay with her mother's ex-best friend and family. Miranda is eager to explore the bright streets and sandy beaches with Aunt Clare's daughter, Sammy. But mysteries abound. Why doesn't Miranda's mother want to be with her? Why did she throw out all of Clare's August Isle postcards? Why is Miranda so afraid of the sea? Who was Ben, a boy who apparently knew Clare and Miranda's mother when they were younger? Miranda is determined to overcome her fears and find answers. This book employs many well-worn tropes. There's a distant parent who has a painful secret, girls who look exactly like their mothers as children, an obnoxious boy who becomes their friend because there is nobody else to hang out with, a mysterious old man in the dilapidated house who just returned from years at sea, a nearby island where Something Bad happened in the past, and several locals who know what happened but won't tell the kids. Of course, Miranda disobeys warnings and sails to the forbidden island. History is repeated in a climactic scene and the truth is finally revealed. Although the plot is nothing new, Standish has created engaging characters, a pleasant setting, and enough intrigue to hook young readers. VERDICT A general purchase for fans of light summer mysteries.-Martha Simpson, Stratford Library Association, CT

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Narrator Kyla Garcia captures the vacation setting and intrigue of this light summer mystery. The summer before Miranda starts eighth grade, her parents send her to August Isle, Florida, to stay with her mom's oldest friend, who has a daughter her age, Samira. Miranda explores the place where her mother vacationed as a girl and finds a new friend in Sammy. But mysteries abound, and Miranda starts to uncover secrets about her mother's shadowy past. Garcia gives Miranda a calm voice that contrasts with Sammy's gushing enthusiasm. While Aunt Clare and Miranda's mom both have similar mature-sounding voices, other characters are given more distinct vocal markers, including the slight Indian accent of Samira's father, the Southern drawls of the locals, and even a Portuguese-speaking parrot. S.C. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

March 1, 2019
Grades 4-7 Twelve-year-old Miranda, who feels rejected by her mother, spends a month on a Florida island with Mom's childhood friend Clare and her family. Miranda tries to conquer her deep-rooted fear of water during sailing lessons with Clare's daughter, Sammy, and their friend Caleb. Hoping to learn more about Mom's mysterious past on the island, Miranda and Sammy look for clues. When a dare leads to Miranda breaking into an apparently abandoned house, she's caught by the old man who lives there. Later, after a dramatic event uncovers buried memories, she begins to piece the past together in ways that may help her entire family move forward. It will come as no surprise that a tragic event in the past is the source of the family's multigenerational emotional turmoil, but the use of coincidences and a melodramatic plot twist undermine the story's credibility. Standish creates a number of sympathetic characters, though, and readers who enjoyed her first novel, The Ethan I Was Before (2017), may want to give this one a try.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)