Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Lavendermc

This book, the first of a small series, involves four cousins; Hillary, Neeve, Phoebe and Kate. The twelve-year old cousins are invited, as is custom, to their grandmother's house on Gull Island in New England. The girls set off to befriend fellow islanders, friends and foe alike.


This book deals with a lot of different issues and themes: rivalry, friendship and family. Hillary's parents are going through a divorce that's affecting her harshly and makes her question her place in the Callahan family. In order to remedy to that, she decides to bring back an old family 'competition': the planting of a flag portraying the family's proud name to make her dad proud and feel like part of the family again. Her fellow cousins, with the simple intentions of making Hillary feel better after her parent's troubles, follow her lead. This opens up a whole new set of adventures for the girls.


Something I particularly found cute was the insertion of a book-nut; Phoebe. I could definitely relate to her. ;)


Both fun and light-hearted, this book is very interesting and gives it's readers a beautiful view of island life and Irish traditions. I recommend to anyone between the ages of 6 to 14. Older teens and adults would probably get a little bored by the good-natured banter of twelve-year-olds.