During a camping trip with their grandparents in coastal British Columbia, Katelyn and her younger brother Matthew visit a nearby island, where they find a cache of seashells, beach glass, and a necklace in an abandoned shack. Is this the treasure of a ghost their grandfather might have seen last summer? Apparently not. When thick fog disorients them, they find a girl, Selena, who guides them to her house, hidden away in Driftwood Cove. Selena’s parents, Mary and Rob, warm the children, and explain their back-to-the-land lifestyle. Rob shows the children how to carve driftwood. When the fog lifts, Rob and Selena take Matthew and Katelyn back to their campsite, and the children and their grandparents later come to Driftwood Cove for a meal. Katelyn and Selena become friends. Matthew decides to learn to carve.

Ron Lightburn’s illustrations for this book are drop-dead gorgeous. Every fold of cloth, fall of light, and wrinkle of skin are exactly as they should be. When the children are caught in the fog, the illustrations fade to ghostly shades. Selena appears barefoot, clad in a white dress, and it seems certain that the narrative will deliver the magic hinted at in the early pages. But it doesn’t. The story is, in the end, quite mundane.

The illustrations carry the book, but it is hard to know if they will compensate for the unfulfilled promise of enchantment. Sandra Lightburn’s writing is competent, but the plot is weak. It’s hard to see this text as anything more than a vehicle for wonderful art work.