The Thorn Island Adventure

Fleur Hitchcock's The Thorn Island Adventure is a sunny seaside mystery for 9 year olds about four cousins who see a face at the window of an island tower.

What happens

Every time the cousins stay with their grandparents by the sea, something exciting happens. So eight-year-old Josh is out early with his red notebook, spying on the village shop and waiting for a crime.

He doesn't have to wait long. A fisherman's brand-new boat vanishes from a beach in two minutes flat, and the police can't come until tomorrow. Then the local gossip arrives with bigger news. The six-year-old son of a rich dog-treat maker has been kidnapped.

So Ava, who's twelve and allowed to sail Grandpa's dinghy on her own, takes them all out to look for the boat. Aiden reads the map. Chloe feels seasick. And while she's eating her egg and cress sandwich, Chloe looks up at the old tower on Thorn Island and sees a white face at the window, mouth wide open, shouting.

Nobody believes her.

It has a lovely old-fashioned holiday feel, the kind of adventure a lot of us grew up on. There are cream teas, bike rides down to the harbour and no mobile signal anywhere, which is very handy for the plot. The grown-ups are kind but busy, so the children have to sort it out themselves.

The four cousins are really well drawn. Josh is cheeky and wants to attack with the village tennis-ball machine (loaded with coconuts and eggs). Ava thinks they've all gone mad, for a while at least. Aiden quietly makes the plans. And Chloe, the quiet one, gets properly cross about not being believed, which lots of children will cheer.

The story moves between the cousins, so everyone gets a turn. Their plan involves a folding ladder, a bottle of ketchup and an old pram, which tells you a lot about the tone!

A kidnapping sits at the centre of it, so it's worth a quick chat if your child worries about that sort of thing. The early chapters stay light though, with more squabbling over scones than real danger.

What to read next

If they want more of the same four cousins, The Fire Bay Adventure brings them back to Clifftopper Farm for the autumn fire festival, with flaming tar barrels and a smugglers' ghost story told round the bonfire.