ALA Booklist (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

A precocious young orphan with a big imagination finds her life uprooted again when she moves to a lighthouse on Harmony Island in Lake Superior. This upper-elementary chapter book blends historical fiction, adventure, and a coming-of-age story, elements that compete with each other in the relatively short page count. As Lucy adapts to the Martin household, she must learn to overcome her "allergy" to the lake if she wants to complete her dead father's mission of finding a missing necklace, and as the Martins share their culture with her, she's happy to forge a stronger connection to her own Ojibwe heritage. Lucy is bighearted but often too quick to act, which many young readers will likely relate to, even as she assumes different personas based on her emotional reactions in a given moment. While the story is quick to unfold, the pacing sometimes makes the story feel unfocused, and the historical fiction elements get overshadowed. All that said, there's still a lot of potential in the character of Lucy Landry, and young chapter-book readers who are more interested in character will appreciate this.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

When French and Ojibwe 11-year-old Selena Lucy Landry’s guardian dies, she’s placed in the care of the Martins, a large Ojibwe family, in this uplifting tale by Johnson (The Star That Always Stays), a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Already apprehensive about the move, Lucy feels further anxious and isolated when she learns that the family inhabits a lighthouse on a small island in the middle of Lake Superior. Even as she copes with grief, Lucy tries hard to fit in with the six Martin children, regaling them with fanciful, sometimes true, stories. After she recounts the tale of a nearby capsized boat that carried a ruby necklace, her pseudo-siblings gently rib her about the epic’s validity, prompting Lucy to set out in search of the necklace, certain that obtaining it for the Martins is her only way to gain acceptance. In this tender, wholesome book about family, Johnson acknowledges the importance of kindness and patience, especially in matters of grief and settling into new places and situations. Third-person passages deftly detail Lucy’s tumultuous emotions and winningly balance the mystery of the shipwreck; Anishinaabe text throughout emphasizes how culture and environmental preservation shape the Martin family’s values. Ages 8–12. Agent: Jessica Schmeidler, Golden Wheat Literary. (Mar.)

School Library Journal (Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2024)

Gr 3–7— Selena Lucy Landry (Lucy, for short) is full of imagination, wonder, and a taste for adventure—with one exception. After losing her father in a shipwreck, she has an overwhelming fear of the sea. This proves particularly difficult when she is sent to live with the Martins, a large Anishinaabe family of lighthouse keepers on a tiny island in Lake Superior. She arrives desperate to be loved but can never seem to say or do the right thing. Soon, however, a window of opportunity appears. The Martins live close to Mermaid's Corner, the site of a shipwreck her father often told her about. Can she find the ship's treasure that her father longed to discover? Will seeking it bring her closer to the Martin family, or is Lucy destined to not only be an orphan, but an outcast forever? Lucy has an enchantment reminiscent of Anne Shirley's, but Johnson adds so much depth to the 19th-century orphan story by weaving it with the girl's self-discovery as she connects more deeply with her Ojibwe heritage through her newfound foster family. There is also a nod to homeschooling as the Martins live far from school, and take pride in having their mother as a teacher. VERDICT Fans of L.M. Montgomery seeking diverse characters will rejoice at this heart-warming, feel-good adventure, as will families looking for books representing home learners.— Amira Walker