The Islanders

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.

Twelve-year-old Jake's life has just turned upside-down. His father has been 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.

He's barely on land before he meets and befriends two other kids-AJ, another "summer kid" and Lovie, who lives there and shows both Jake and AJ the ropes of life on the island. All three are struggling with their own family issues, and the three quickly bond, going on adventures all over Dewees Island.

But their fun stops after one misadventure on an abandoned boat leads to community service. Their punishment? Mandatory turtle duty as a part of Team Turtle, where they must do a daily dawn beach patrol checking for loggerhead sea turtle tracks and to keep an eye on the nest. And when the nest becomes endangered, the three friends must find a way to protect it.

Can they save the turtle nest from predators? And 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?