Note: Our site is about equipping parents and therefore we don’t typically don’t hesitate to include spoilers if it is needed to inform Christian parents of the full picture for a book. With that said, the concerning / potentially concerning content below contains a huge spoiler for this story.
This book is about the sibling relationship between Bex and Davey. Early on we learn that Davey has stopped talking to his parents and everyone else except for Bex. It is not until you come towards the end of the book that you learn Davey has been dead all along and was imagined by Bex the entire adventure. He died the previous summer, but Bex has been living in “what ifs” and operating as if he was still alive until she is confronted by a hollow artist who makes art about letting go, as she herself lost her own daughter at a young age.
Twelve-year-old Bex lies on several occasions, though she is described as a truth teller. "It was okay to have a different version if necessary" was the conclusion at one point. In another lie she concludes "it was a small thing and not worth the trouble to talk about". However, when she lies, her stomach would hurt or clinch. The book ends stating that telling the truth is important.
Davey likes to read "crying books" where a character dies at the end as it makes him feel things. According to this nine-year-old, a book that starts happy then becomes sad and ends on a happy/sad note is worth reading.
Because of a drought, a statue is revealed in the water. When they realize they have a mystery on their hands, they resolve to keep it to themselves. They turn to the internet instead of asking their parents who would be knowledgeable to help (their mother is a researcher and their father is an island native). To make it worse they justify this behavior: "Things change once adults stick their noses in it. It will be their project, not ours". Bex risked swimming alone to investigate the statue at least twice even though she was not allowed to swim in the marsh without an adult present. She deliberately diverts her mother, who regularly studies the biological life in the marsh. She also takes a ferry from the island to a museum in the city without her parent's knowledge, which ensues a frantic search for her. After this incident, the father notes that they should have taken her to therapy.
When wanting to show her parents' the special place she shared with her brother, the parents noted it was late in the evening. Her thoughts go to Davey and him saying 'Parents! They just don't get it'.
A few other mentions:
Bex is described as one born to argue
The naming of a special area to something relating to mythology is referred to as a genius joke.
After dinner one night, Bex and Davey sat on the porch telling ghost stories.
For the Dad, "water and poetry were his religion, that he drew a kind of calmness and strength from them that other people got from church".
On two occasions while comforting Bex, her mother traces a slow figure 8 on her forehead. Something she always did when the kids were sick or upset to calm them down.
A family getting on the ferry is described as two dads with 2 children.
At the art museum, they observe a piece with a carpenter wearing a frilly dress.
While in the garden for lunch they point out "a person” with pink hair and a baby stroller.