In Trisha Springstubb's (What Happened on Fox Street) poignant novel of leaving childhood, Flor's best friend moves away from Moonpenny Island, and she begins to see the world differently, and to open others' eyes, too.
Eleven-year-old Flor O'Dell and Sylvie Pinch are "each other's perfect friend." It doesn't matter that Sylvie's father is the wealthy mayor and Flor's father is the island's only police officer. But then Sylvie's family sends her to the mainland to a private school. Now, after all the summer people leave the island, Flor will be the only student in sixth grade. Worse yet, she'll have Mrs. Defoe, who doubles as the principal and wears only brown. Sylvie made Flor promise to look after her brother, who drives too fast and has now dropped out of school. Will Sylvie blame Flor? And Flor's mother goes to take care of Flor's sick grandmother and doesn't come back.
Finally a new girl arrives: Jasper, whose geologist father tells Flor, "Your island is a tectonic treasure trove." They help her see the island anew, and to fill the gaping hole that first Sylvie, then Flor's mother, burrowed inside Flor when they left.
Springstubb beautifully mines the possibilities of how experience changes a child's view of her surroundings. As Flor tries to keep her family together, she also reintroduces Mrs. Defoe to passages in Anne of Green Gables that inspire the teacher to wear yellow and pink. Readers come to realize that, whether or not Flor's mother returns home, Flor will be okay. "Maybe the real trick of seeing," she thinks, "is the kind that lets you see through someone else's eyes." --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness