The Lost Island of Tamarind

Starred review from October 27, 2008
Aguiar’s exciting debut novel is a cross between Peter Pan
and Lost
. Thirteen-year-old Maya Nelson is sick of living at sea on the Pamela Jane
with her brother, Simon, and baby sister, Penny, while her parents conduct research. After a sudden storm, Maya’s parents fall overboard and Maya desperately sails the boat, landing on Tamarind, an island that has been the setting for ongoing stories told by her father and that has been cut off from the outside world. Ruled by pirates and devastated by civil war, the island poses one peril after another. As Maya and Simon hike through dense jungle, tending to Penny, they meet dynamic characters including the orphan Helix, a jaguar-riding child stealer and a girl who looks uncannily like Maya. When pirates kidnap Simon and Penny, Maya must race to find her parents and rescue her siblings. Developed with seeming ease, each new character advances the plot logically and fluidly. The storytelling, intricate as it is, builds to a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. All signs point to a sequel—one that readers won’t want to miss. Ages 10–14.