Baby Island

Title: Baby Island
Author: Carol Ryrie Brink

What it's about: Mary and Jean Wallace are two young sisters who are traveling to meet their father in Australia. Both girls like babies, and when the ship they're on starts to sink, they rescue the babies of two couples who they had been helping to take care of. The two girls and the four rescued babies wash up on a desert island, which they call Baby Island. Thus starts their task of caring for the babies until they are rescued.

What I thought: Okay, so this is a 1930's kids book. It's all about two young, capable Christian girls who love babies. So why did it hold my interest? Jean. The younger sister has some truly funny lines, including one about throwing the baby Jonah off the lifeboat to go along with the Bible story. If any of you are familiar with the character Osaka from Azumanga Daioh, well, that's who Jean reminded me of. Besides Jean, though, the story really is a cute one. It's predictable at times, but it's told with charm.

Overall: If you're going to be an elementary teacher, you could look into this, but serious readers probably won't want to bother.