In this charming and hilarious graphic novel, tween Sara is trying to make the best of being apart from her school friends for the summer, the last summer before her family moves to a new home and she has to switch schools. Her parents are first traveling for work, however, so Sara is spending the summer at her (partnered) aunts’ island home rather than at day camp with her friends. She has a checklist of ideas for making new friends, but one senses that her plan feels a little forced.
Once through the fog that surrounds the island, however, strange things start happening—most notably, that her aunts’ dogs, Whatar and Sits, can talk. They’re very chatty, in fact, and soon become Sara’s companions and guides. Other small, domestic magics reveal themselves as Sara settles in. The book follows her through various daily adventures, weathering a storm, helping the chickens with a problem, planning a picnic from the garden harvest, and exploring the island’s secret places. There are enough moments of excitement and dilemma to create a page-turning read, but the overall vibe is gentle, enlivened by humorous commentary by the dogs and other animals. Whatar and Sits, despite their grasp of language, remain fundamentally canine, proud of a stick collection, connoisseurs of smells, and sharing doggy jokes that Sara, in her humanness, just doesn’t get.
Author/illustrator Emily Tetri deftly shows Sara’s self-growth over the course of the summer, not as a giant transformation, but rather a gradual building of self-confidence, particularly in her ability to make friends. The book also quietly reminds us to find magic in the everyday and harmony with the natural world. Sweet, whimsical, and absolutely delightful, it’s a highly recommended read.
Sara and her family, including Aunt Bea, are Taiwanese American; Aunt Meg is White. One offhand comment indicates that one of Sara’s school friends has a crush on a nonbinary peer; we never meet them, but it’s a nice small moment of no-big-deal inclusion.
