Secrets of Tamarind

June 15, 2011

After rescuing their marine-biologist parents from a mysterious island in The Lost Island of Tamarind (2008), feisty siblings Maya, Simon and Penny encounter more amazing adventures as they return to prevent Tamarind's destruction in this hair-raising sequel.

Since leaving Tamarind four years ago, Maya, Simon and Penny (16, 13 and 5, respectively) have lived quietly in Bermuda with their preoccupied parents, who worry about the Red Coral Project, a phony scientific study intent on ravaging Tamarind to extract the precious mineral ophalla. When Helix, their orphan pal from Tamarind, asks them to sail the Pamela Jane back to the island, Simon, Maya and Penny can't refuse. Shocked to discover the Red Coral systematically destroying the island, they embark on an arduous quest. Eventually Simon assumes the hero's role, following obscure clues hidden in three ophallagraphs, leading relentlessly to the Neglected Provinces, the Little Blue Door, the Mumbagua Falls, the Moraine of Lost Loved Ones and, ultimately, to Faustina's Gate. Here, with Tamarind's fate in his hands, Simon comes of age, "knowing his purpose is important and clear." Replete with ecological warnings applicable to real as well as fantasy worlds and glossed with lush descriptions of imaginary flora and fauna, the rapid-fire plot bristles with danger.

Like Simon, Maya and Penny, readers will find it hard to leave the magical world of Tamarind. (map) (Fantasy. 10-12)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

September 1, 2011

Gr 5-8-In this quick-paced follow-up to The Lost Island of Tamarind (Feiwel & Friends, 2008), readers are again drawn into a magical world. After rescuing their parents on Tamarind four years earlier, the Nelson children have led a safe, if boring, day-to-day stationary life in Bermuda. Simon, especially, mourns their previous life at sea. When mysterious events hint that there may be danger on Tamarind, Maya, Simon, Penny, and their friend, Helix, an island native, set out to see if they can help. Upon arriving, the siblings are distressed to find that though the civil wars have ended, miners are removing so much ophalla (a native and magical mineral) that the island's entire ecosystem is disintegrating. A series of clues leads the children on a chase to find the mythical Faustina's Gate. If the well can be closed, the island will be saved. Lush descriptions of jungle life, mysterious creatures, and tropical cities easily enchant. As Simon wends his way through the clues to discover the location of Faustina's Gate, readers will be amazed and excited right alongside him. This is a great adventure that sets the stage for a third book in the series.-Jessica Miller, New Britain Public Library, CT

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2011
Grades 5-8 Four years after their adventures in The Lost Island of Tamarind (2008), the Nelson children return to the fantastical island and learn that the Red Coral Project, a shady scientific outfit led by the unscrupulous Dr. Fitzsimmons, is wreaking environmental destruction mining for Tamarind's magical mineral. Separated from Helix and their ship, the Pamela Jane, Maya, Simon, and Penny chase down clues to the location of the mythical Faustina's Gate, said to be Tamarind's only hopebut Dr. Fitzsimmons is looking for it, too. Aguiar's vivid tropical setting is brimming with magic and danger, and her blend of survival story, scavenger hunt, and fantasy adventure is a winning one.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)