Lost on Brier Island by Jo Ann Yhard

Summary: Distraught after the unexpected death of Adam, her twin brother, Alex is sent to spend the summer with her Aunt Sophie in the small community of Brier Island. A whale-watching trip introduces her to a baby whale that Alex connects with and calls Daredevil, but guilt over her brother’s death holds her back from forming friendships with others. When she discovers her parents’ marriage is on the brink of divorce, a day spent with Rachael on the foggy island changes her perspective on things, and she is finally able to move on with her life.

Number of Pages: 178

Age Range: 12-13

Review: Lost on Brier Island is the story of one girl’s journey through grief after the death of her twin brother.

Pared down, the storyline I liked best was the one about Alex and Daredevil, the baby whale. It was almost as if the spirit of her brother Adam was in the whale, and Alex’s connection with Daredevil allowed her to work out the remaining feelings she had over Adam’s sudden loss. I did wish it was more clear whether Daredevil survived or not. I suppose he didn’t, but since Yhard wasn’t absolutely specific about it, I like to hope that somehow he did live.

This is more of a pre-teen book than a teen book, and so I would recommend it only to early teens.

Memorable Quotes:

“She’d been so mad, too. She remembered that. But he’d been lying in that bed, silent and still. How could she get mad at him? She’d felt guilty about that, too, and then angry at herself instead. She’d been smothered in a mammoth-sized boulder of guilt, so heavy it was a crushing weight on her all the time. And now it floated off her shoulders like a feather on the wind, disappearing as quickly as the fog they’d been wrapped in.” – Alex from Lost on Brier Island by Jo Ann Yhard, pages 164-165

Lost on Brier Island by Jo Ann Yhard is published by Nimbus Publishing (2011).
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