Young Sola, a round-headed creature with gleaming golden eyes, lives on an island beset by a marauding sea monster. When it attacked the island, it was drawn to Sola in particular, making her an outcast among her fellow islanders (-Cursed girl,- mutters one crone). Determined to confront the unknown as courageously as Ila, her astronomer guardian, Sola sets out to sea, gaining two companions along the way: Hunder from Fortress Island, a young tortoise-headed warrior who-s all bluster, and Wick, a glib poet from the Isle of Wind. Her island-hopping journey introduces her to creatures welcoming and terrifying, and leads finally to the monster itself. Using polished, sure storytelling skills, Dahm offers shipwrecks, battles, and unflagging action. Underlying the story-s events is an allegory about how real knowledge comes only from seeing for oneself (-They don-t want to find the monster,- says Wick about her countrymen. -They have their verses about it... their allusions to it... none of them have seen more than a glimpse of it!-). While the ending leaves the monster undefeated and its nature unexplained, the characters are tempered by their ordeal-and perhaps there-s room for a sequel. Ages 8-11. (May)