Rereading: CASTAWAY CAMP by M. E. Atkinson

After fourteen holiday adventure novels for children about the Lockett family, Atkinson continued to write them, but began with a new cast of characters. The oldest girl, Fricka, is impulsive and temperamental, the oldest boy, Hugo, is dependable and good with tools. Sugar, the younger girl, is motherly, often caring for the others at home when their guardian, an uncle they call The Bear, is not around. The youngest boy, Adrian, is adventurous but often forgetful and thoughtless, and quite a bit the youngest at age six. Readers of Atkinson’s earlier books will recognize some of these traits, but by starting over, she was able to avoid all the complications, explanations, and large cast of her previous series, and this story has a fresh feel that jumps right into the action. Illustrator Charlotte Hough also seems inspired, no longer having to try to match previous illustrators’ ideas.

The four are on a summer holiday at a fishing cabin on a Scots loch. The Bear began with them, but has gone off painting somewhere, he’s a sculptor and artist, so the children are making their own fun. While fishing on the loch, a heavy mist rolls in, and then Adrian drops one of the oars overboard because he wants them to become shipwrecked on the island they were approaching. When that happens, and after scolding Adrian, they make a castaway camp in an old crumbling shack, the only structure on the island, and begin exploring. Later they make a new friend, Dingle, who has arrived in his own small boat, and arrange for him to help them get supplies for their camp from home. Many adventures ensue, it’s a fun read, and recommended.

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