Tess Brooks is an 11-year-old girl growing up in a small fishing village on one of the tiny bay islands in Maine. Overall, life has been good for her, but a real challenge is approaching. Since her best friend's family has moved off the island, the state has said there are too few children on the island for it to pay for a teacher to man the school. That would mean not only would her family (and the others on the island) have to move to the mainland, but her mother would be out of a job since she is the teacher at the island's single schoolhouse.

The local minister came up with an interesting idea to preserve the local community and the school. Families in the town should volunteer to take in foster children to increase the youth population so the school can stay open. Tess and her family agree to be one of those families and end up with 13-year-old Aaron. Tess is really looking forward to sharing the wonders of island life, her father's fishing business, and the friendly community with him.

Aaron, like so many foster children, arrives with a difficult past. The state took him away from his mother because she was unfit due to addictions. He lived for a number of years with his grandmother, but she has now died, and he has been cycling through foster homes for the past couple of years. The result is that he has a hard time connecting with those around him, particularly when one of Tess' classmates decides to tease him. That doesn't keep Tess from trying to make him feel welcome, which causes much bickering at first.

As can be expected, Aaron starts to settle in as he gets used to Tess, her family, and the rest of the island community. He finds that his talent with the trumpet and the piano helps him build relationships as he opens up.

Tess is really a wonderful narrator that pulls the reader right into the story. It is easy to understand her confusion about Aaron when he first arrives, particularly as things don't go the way she has hoped. But it is really heartwarming to see the development of a friendship between the two as he comes to find the island as a place he feels welcome, particularly once his mother arrives for a visit at Tess' request.

This book has been so well received that it has been selected as a nominee for both the 2012 Rhode Island Teen Book Award and the Rhode Island Children's Book Award. It really is an amazing, touching tale.