Pine Island Visitors

By: Jamie Steinberg

I was excited to revisit the McCready sisters and find out what they had been up to since our first meeting with them in Pine Island Home. In Pine Island Visitors our girls are now officially adopted by Al and have spent the summer enjoying themselves. They might even get a couple puppies! Unfortunately, their better days go sideways when two visitors come to stay – upending the better days that the girls had ahead of them. Can the girls get rid of their pesky interlopers and return to happier days? You’ll want to dig into Pine Island Visitors to find out.

School is starting again in Pine Island, British Columbia and Fiona is a bundle of nerves after standing up Davey at the dance. Marlin is excited because she’s finished her cookbook and is just waiting for Al’s book editor to tell her someone has picked it up for release. Natasha is eager to finally get the violin she has been wanting to play and Charlie is pleased as punch at the idea that they could be getting a couple of pups. However, once school starts back up things are quick to go awry. Mrs. Weatherspoon, their former guardian, wants to come and stay with the girls for three months. Already packed in and with the couch falling apart, Fiona is worried about having a guest on top of them when they currently have so much on their plates. Unable to say no to someone who was so dear to them when they lost their parents, the girls agree to Mrs. Weatherspoon coming to visit. Only, to add insult to injury, she brings her loudmouthed opinionated friend Jo with her.

None of the girls find Jo a joy as she has an opinion on everything and isn’t shy about sharing it. Marlin is already in a sour space as she has found making friends at school to be fairly impossible on top of being stressed that no one has given any positive feedback to her book. Charlie has the girls worked up over figuring out a puppy breed and Natasha finds herself such a savant at the violin that it is astonishing. Things go from bad to worse though when Jo unceremoniously announces they plan to extend their stay. Certainly, Al has much to say on the matter and is eager to get these ladies out of McCready’s hair as much as the girls are themselves. Can Fiona find the courage to speak up? Is Marlin fooling herself that a thirteen-year-old (I know, I know – twelve sounds better) can publish a cookbook?

Author Polly Horvath continues to show off her talents as a young-adult author. Your heart continues to go out to these sweet girls and you want nothing more than to wrap them up in a big hug (okay, I also wish I could eat Marlin’s amazing meals and desserts). There is only one downfall to reading, Pine Island Visitors – parents, be warned about an influx of requests for a puppy.