When 11-year-old Jake found out he was spending the summer on Dewees Island with his grandmother, he wasn’t happy. He was wanting to stay in New Jersey and play video games with his friends. He wanted to be home to get ready for sixth grade. But his father, an officer in the Army, was injured in duty, and his mother wanted to be with him. So Jake is spending the summer with his father’s mother, Honey, in South Carolina.

On the ferry over to the island, he drops his phone trying to text his friends back home, and then he watches as it slides right off the boat and falls in the water. There goes his connection to his friends back home. Now he feels even more alone.

Once he gets to the island, Jake is met by Honey, who takes him home in her golf cart. Since cars aren’t allowed on the island, those who use vehicles drive golf carts. When Honey tells Jake that he’ll have to learn to drive her golf card to do his daily chores, he’s torn. He’s certainly not happy about having daily chores, but the thought of driving a golf cart around is pretty exciting. And she tells him he can learn to drive a boat too, as long as he passes the written test that comes first.

Jake starts to think maybe being on the island won’t be so bad, especially when he makes new friends. Macon is on the island for the summer with his mother, and Lovie spends most summers on the island. Macon is a walking encyclopedia, and Lovie already knows a lot about Dewees Island, so Jake is having to catch up. But with the books his father read when he was a kid and his journal, Jake finds his knowledge of the island growing quickly. Then Honey gets him his own journal and encourages him to pay attention to the details of nature, to write about or draw what he sees, and she offers him more field guides to help him learn.

As Jake, Lovie, and Macon explore the island, they all have family issues they’re dealing with. Jake is worried about his father, who is badly injured and needs time to recover. And if that’s not enough got him, Honey has been struggling for the last couple of years, since her husband died, and Jake isn’t sure how to help her around the house the way she needs. Macon’s mother is pregnant, and his father only comes to the island on weekends, so the rest of the time, Macon has to be prepared to help her, or to call for help if the baby is coming. And Lovie has a secret about her father that haunts her, and she’s not sure what to do.

Then a misunderstanding with a boat turns into an epic punishment, and the three friends find themselves on Dawn Patrol for the Turtle Team, up early every morning to look for turtle tracks and nests of eggs that they can help protect. Honey offers to oversee them, and her involvement with the Turtle Team seems to bring her back from her sadness. And maybe that punishment is just what Jake, Lovie, and Macon need to discover a sense of purpose, and that can help them all find the courage they need to deal with everything else going on in their lives.

Mary Alice Monroe is known for her bestselling books, like The Beach House series. The Islanders is her first middle grade book, written with her friend Angela May and based on her passion for conservation. Filled with interesting, well researched facts about Dewees Island and the loggerhead turtles that call it home, this heart-warming book is a reminder of power of nature to heal us, the power of friendship to bring out the best in us, and the power of family to help us feel at home anywhere in the world.

I thought The Islanders was a really beautiful novel for middle schoolers, the kind of book that draws you in and makes you feel closer to the world around you, no matter how land-locked you may be. These characters are facing universal issues of facing your fears, finding your passions, and dealing with changes in your family. I would have loved this book as a kid, and I love it as an adult. Highly recommended!

Egalleys for The Islanders were provided by Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing, with many thanks.