School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-Twelve-year-old Crow is an islander through and through. She knows how to harvest mussels and lobsters, how to navigate a skiff through choppy water, and how to coax garden vegetables from rocky, sandy soil. But Crow is also full of questions, and none of them have simple answers. Why was she abandoned as a newborn, sent to sea alone in a small boat? Where did she come from, and why did she wash up on the shores of Cuttyhunk Island? Who were her parents, and where are they today? When Crow investigates a fire burning on a nearby deserted island, she sets off a chain of events that begins an incredible, and at times dangerous, journey of uncovering answers to her heart's deepest questions. Jorjeana Marie's gentle yet expressive narration perfectly captures Crow's determination as she patches together her personal history. Her subtle vocal shifts ensure listeners always know which character is speaking, and her excellent pacing moves the story swiftly along. VERDICT Fans of Wolk's Wolf Hollow will not be disappointed by this historical fiction tale. Listeners will root for Crow as she discovers that sometimes true happiness and contentment comes from being where and who we want to be.-Anne Bozievich, Friendship Elementary School, Glen Rock, PA © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Several central characters populate Wolk's New England coming-of-age novel. The protagonist, Crow, at 12, has begun asking questions about her past as an abandoned baby-questions that neither her taciturn foster father, Osh, nor their matter-of-fact neighbor Miss Maggie are equipped to answer. As the story unfolds, the three characters venture forth from their tiny island off Cape Cod to discover the truth about Crow's lost family, encountering unexpected dangers along the way. Marie is a sensitive narrator whose characterizations are unique and often power- ful. She excels at playing Osh, who speaks little but communicates much, ensuring his deep love for Crow shines through in his brief and sometimes stern dialogue. Marie also provides interesting performances for the loyal Miss Maggie and several island residents, as well as for the villain of the piece: a cold-blooded treasure hunter who is determined to unearth the secrets of Crow's past before she does. Marie handles the challenge of three leading characters with ease, keeping listeners captivated throughout. Ages 10-up. A Dutton hardcover. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Crow lives on a tiny island in the Elizabeth Islands off Cape Cod with her adoptive father, Osh. He and Miss Maggie, who lives on nearby Cuttyhunk, are her only companions, as other locals shun her. But Crow wasnt born on Oshs island; she washed ashore there twelve years earlier in 1913, a newborn baby alone in a skiff. She has always wondered about her origins, but not until she sees a fire ablaze on Penikese, an uninhabited island that once housed a leper colony, does an overwhelming tide of curiosity about her origins rise within her. Who were her birth parents? Why did they send her away? Were they lepers? What did they name her? She doesnt expect her questions to lead her and those she loves into the fearful danger that ensues. Wolk writes of her characters with the same precise, poetic nuance with which she describes Crows beloved island and the lyrics of the sea. Here, place forms character, just as human relationships do, and while Crows adventures are a dramatic mix of buried treasure, deadly storms, and murderous pursuit, the heart of this story is the precisely observed, quietly realized evocation of clamming and lobstering and gardening; of the love and self-knowledge that come through mutual care. This is an exceptional mix of historical fiction, physical adventure, and interiority, a novel in which suspense, insight, and the natural world play equal, vital parts. An authors note provides more information about the history of these Massachusetts islands and the 1905-1921 Penikese leper hospital. deirdre f. baker (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
This book will make people want to run away to the Elizabeth Islands.It's the 1920s. Crow and her adoptive father, Osh, live in a tiny house on a tiny island off Cape Cod, but her descriptions make it seem strange and mysterious. The cottage is "built from bits of lost ships," and it's full of found treasures: "a pair of sun-white whale ribs arched over our doorway, a tarnished ship's bell hanging from their pinnacle." Every chapter in the book has a new mystery to be solved: why was Crow sent away in an old boat when she was a baby? Why is a fire burning on an abandoned island? Did Capt. Kidd really hide treasure nearby? But some readers will love Wolk's use of language even more than the puzzles. Crow says her skin is "the same color Osh [makes] by mixing purple and yellow, blue and orange, red and green." (The race of the characters isn't always identified, but Osh says, "I came a long, long way to be here," and his native language and accent make him sound "different from everyone else.") The pacing of the book isn't always as suspenseful as it should be. There are a few lulls, which the author tries to fill with heavy foreshadowing. But the mysteriesand the words that describe themare compelling enough to send readers to the islands for years to come. A beautiful, evocative sophomore effort from Newbery honoree Wolk (Wolf Hollow, 2016). (Historical fiction. 9-13) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Crow was a mere baby when she drifted to the shore of one of the Elizabeth Islands off the coast of Massachusetts in the first quarter of the twentieth century. She has since grown up with the painter Osh as her stand-in father; their only other friend is Maggie, who teaches Crow. Nearby Penikese Island was home to a leper colony at the time of Crow's birth, and most of the island folk assume her birth parents were lepers and shun her. Now a 12-year-old and uncertain of her parentage, Crow becomes increasingly curious following a fire on the now supposedly vacant Penikese. Where did she really come from? What happened to her parents, and is there a chance she has any surviving blood relatives? Crow's quest for answers as she grapples with her uncertain identity shapes the 2017 Newbery Honor Book author's sophomore novel. While this quiet, affecting story lacks the palpable sense of dread and superb pacing that made Wolf Hollow (2016) so impossible to put down, there's still plenty to admire in this more classic-feeling historical novel, which calls to mind Natalie Babbitt's The Eyes of the Amaryllis (1977). Wolk has a keen sense for the seaside landscape, skillfully mining the terror the ocean can unleash as a furious nor'easter heightens tension in the novel's climax. Historical fiction fans awaiting her follow-up will be pleased.--Barnes, Jennifer Copyright 2010 Booklist
