Megan's Island (Paperback)

by Willo Davis Roberts (Author) "THERE WAS one week of school left on the day the peculiar things began to happen..." (more)
Key Phrases: redheaded kids, other grandfather, Grandpa Davis, Daniel Kauffman, Karen Collier (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Megan and her brother never thought about their tumbleweed life-style; Mother is on the go, always looking for a better job. But this time their mother packs them up without allowing Megan to tell her best friend. Megan and Sandy are worried; their mother seems frightened and tells them they'll be "safe" with Grandfather in the lake country of Minnesota. Someone is looking for them, and though Grandfather doesn't tell them everything, Megan is able to piece together the story. Years before, their father was jailed and Megan's wealthy paternal grandfather tried to wrest Sandy and Megan from their mother. A couple of bad guys show up, but they are foiled, leaving Megan and her family to sort out their problems and stop running at last. Appealing setting and engaging subplots add much to this entertaining, if somewhat predictable novel. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal
Grade 5-8 Megan Collier is shocked when her mother takes her and her brother, Sandy, to their grandfather's isolated cottage in the middle of the night without a word of explanation. Megan is further disturbed by evi dence that three strangers are spying on them. With their mother away and their grandfather injured, Megan and Sandy turn to their nearest neighbor, a smart but sometimes obnoxious boy named Ben, for help. Suspense is built slowly but convincingly. With the ex ception of a few shadowy minor char acters, the people are well rounded. Ben is especially complex. Unfortu nately, in portraying Megan's gradual acceptance of Ben as a friend, Roberts comes suspiciously close to moraliz ing. His family situation, being shut tled back and forth between divorced parents, neither of whom appears to want him, contrasts a little too neatly with Megan and Sandy's situation of being sought after by too many people. Despite these flaws and occasional plot lapses into predictability and im pausibility, Megan's Island succeeds both as an entertaining mystery and as a novel about human relationships. Ruth Sadasivan, Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, Ohio
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Aladdin (April 30, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689713878
• ISBN-13: 978-0689713873
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #292,532 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Suspense Read, June 27, 2000

By A Customer

Megan's Island has many suspenseful elements going for it all throughout the book. Megan & her brother, Sandy, wonder why the family has to move so often. Why does Mom seem worried and frightened at times? What really happened to the father they never knew? Why does Mom suddenly pack them up right before summer vacation forcing them to miss the last days of school?

When Sandy and Megan arrive at their grandfather's cabin on the lake, there are other puzzling mysteries to solve, as well as summer fun to look forward to. The read is introduced to several great characters who offer a lot to the story, as well as to some very shady suspicious characters. All is not what it seems at the lake.

Read this great story if you are a fan of mystery. You will not be disapointed. Megan's Island won the very prestigous Edgar Allan Poe Award for children's mystery. The award was totally deserved. Mr Roberts has a way of leaving each chapter with a cliffhanger. I could not put the book down.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Good Book, November 15, 2005

A Kid's Review

This is a very interesting book. It is about a girl named Megan, her mom, and her brother sandy. One night out of the blue Megan's mom packs them up and heads hundreds of miles away to their grandfather's cottage. Megan and Sandy stay with their grandpa for several weeks and they meet this boy named Ben. Then their past starts to unravel. They find out that their other grandfather has hired a detective to come find them. When their mom comes back, she explains. She tells them that their dad was son of a very wealthy man, their other grandfather didn't want their mom to marry their dad, but they did anyway. Then their dad got caught stealing money from his work and he got fired. He counldn't find another job, so he held up a bank and was sentenced to jail.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strange Circumstances for Megan, July 30, 2004

A Kid's Review

MEGAN'S ISLAND is about a girl named Megan who moves frequently with her Mom and brother and doesn't even know why. It's a story of a normal girl who finds herself in strange circumstances and comes to know of her even stranger past.
One summer she travels to a place called Lakewood in the dead of night with her family, not knowing where she is going. There she finds an island and a friend.
She always wondered why she moved so much. Were they running away from somebody?
It's a fun mystery book that is also a little scary, but it was so exciting that I couldn't put it down.