The Little Island Explores Changes and Connections

I’ve always found islands fascinating. Perhaps it’s because they seem like little worlds unto themselves, like tiny planets that sailors stumble upon in the midst of a horrific storm. And with everything shrunk down so far, an island becomes a microcosm for the world at large. An island is an ideal setting for philosophical exploration, as LOST showed, and author Golden McDonald, otherwise known as Margaret Wise Brown of childhood classic Goodnight Moon, would seem to agree.

In The Little Island, a Caldecott-winning book artfully illustrated by Leonard Weisgard, we watch an island experience the change of seasons, which McDonald describes in vivid, poetic language. Just as I always capitalize Island when referring to the setting of LOST, McDonald always capitalizes Island throughout her story. She keeps us aware that there is more out there than just this Island, but we never see beyond the water that surrounds it. The place is steeped in mystery: “the fog came in from the sea / and hid the little Island / in a soft wet shadow.” On nearly every page, we see a different creature making its home here, unaware that anything lies beyond these shores.

I love the language that McDonald uses to bring the Island to such full life, and her decision to allow the Island to speak for itself is intriguing. Throughout most of the book, we merely see what happens on the Island, without any real characters to speak of aside from the stalwart Island itself. But then a cat comes ashore off a sailboat and becomes very curious. If this were LOST, he would be John Locke: capable, dangerous and obsessively inquisitive. He wants to know the Island’s secret. But will the Island cooperate?

There’s a great sense of serenity to this book, especially in the gently rocking cadence of the narration. It is a perfect match with the soothing illustrations, which depict the Island in sunlight and shadow. The egg-laying gulls making their nests high in rocky ledges seem to squawk in tune with a song of isolation, while the berries and butterflies burst out in a vibrant display. There’s so much to see and to explore even on such a tiny island.

The Little Island is about nature and the changing of the seasons, but it’s also about having faith – here simplistically described as “to believe what I tell you about what you don’t know” – and connectedness. The Island is “a part of the world / and a world of its own.” The kitten looks into the eye of the Island, and what it sees is beautiful, and what we see is beautiful as well, whether it’s the blossoms on the lone tree on a windy bluff or the fish that dance in the choppy waves lapping up against its shores. An enchanting little book.