THE ISLANDER

A young man learns to accept love and loss in this resonant novel from Rylant (see review, above). Daniel was only a boy when his parents were killed in a plane crash and so his grandfather, who lived with him on the remote island of Coquille, off British Columbia, became his guardian. Rylant suggests that it was perhaps because Daniel was so numbed by grief that he was more open to the extraordinary occurrence of his chance meeting with a mermaid. Through the mermaid's gift of a key, which vibrates whenever Daniel is near a wounded animal, he learns that he is a natural healer; later, as the key leads to the recovery of Franny, a young girl who is lost, Daniel discovers, of course, that the key unlocks his own heart. The shy boy who once avoided his neighbors becomes a vital member of the island's small community, a son to his loving grandfather, and the perfect future husband for Franny. When his grandfather dies, Daniel finds that his spirit is again forged by grief, but he emerges stalwart, compassionate, and open to what life offers: ``I do know that I once believed heaven was only clouds and sky,'' Daniel says. ``But now I wonder if it might be as well the dark and mysterious sea.'' In these precious hundred pages, Rylant reassures her readers that while there is joy and agony in life, there is magic, as well. (Fiction. 11-13)