________________ CM . . . . Volume VI Number 7 . . . . November 26, 1999

cover Driftwood Cove.

Sandra Lightburn. Illustrated by Ron Lightburn.
Toronto, ON: Doubleday Canada Ltd., 1998.
31 pp., cloth, $19.95.
ISBN 0-385-25626-4.

Subject Headings:
Squatters-Juvenile fiction.
Beaches-Juvenile fiction.
Compassion-Juvenile fiction.

Grades 1 - 5 / Ages 6 - 10.
Review by Carol McDougall.

*** /4

image Katelyn and Matthew lose their way as they walk along the beach and are startled when a young girl and her goat emerge from the fog. Salena introduces herself and leads the pair to her home where they will be safe until the fog lifts. Salena and her parents are squatters who live in a house that looks like a rambling tree house on the ground. Katelyn and Matthew spend the afternoon with Salena and her parents, sipping hot milk and learning about a lifestyle very different from their own.

"Is this your summer cottage?" Katelyn asked.

"No, we live here all the time," replied Salena.

Mary smiled softly and looked at Rob. "We came to Driftwood Cove to camp and never left. It seemed like home to us."

"Mom and Dad built our house in these huge hollow trees, using scrap lumber and logs that the tide washed up on the beach," added Salena. "We use the best pieces of driftwood for carvings, then sell them at the market in town."

Katelyn and Matthew watch intently as Rob shows them how he takes piece of driftwood, turns it over and over in his hands and waits for it to whisper to him. He explains that the piece he is holding has whispered that it wants to be a whale, and, with steady hands, he slowly peels away the wood layer by layer until the rounded shape of a killer whale emerges.
     Award winning illustrator Ron Lightburn brings his enormous talent to this story with soft pencil drawings that evoke the haunting beauty of Canada's west coast.

Recommended.

Carol McDougall worked for many years in Children's and Young Adult Services with the Toronto Public Library and was the librarian for the Canadian Children's Book Centre. She is currently the Atlantic Liaison Officer for the Canadian Children's Book Centre in Halifax, NS.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.

Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364

TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THIS ISSUE - November 26, 1999.

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