THE SEAL ISLAND SEVEN

School is starting again on tiny Seal Island, and all the children are excited about their new classmates: Clara and Sophie Hall. Picking up the story from Seal Island School (1999), the addition of two new students to their cozy one-room school changes the social fabric in ways the children had not anticipated. Nicholas, who has been best friends with Prudence for a year, is getting older and appears to be a tad smitten with Clara. Prudence feels strange about this unexpected development, and doesn’t quite know what to do. In addition to the school adjustments, a controversy is brewing. The children’s fairy houses are being destroyed. Building fairy houses in the woods has been a hobby of island children for many generations, and the children are upset. The seven children try a little youthful espionage, but are still surprised at the culprit: one of their environmentally minded mothers is knocking down their houses. An island meeting is called, accusations fly, and the children come up with the solution that everyone can be happy with. Tusa’s jolly black-and-white illustrations, with her round-faced island children, bring this sweet story to life. Bartlett celebrates island life without romanticizing it. What child wouldn’t want to be free to walk anywhere in his community, dress up a pony with a sign, cavort in the woods, meet the ferry every day, and attend school with every one of his friends and the sensible, lovable Miss Sparling? A treasure for new readers. (Fiction. 6-9)