Sigrid Laube Die Insel im Baum (Island in a Tree) Verlag Jungbrunnen, August 2004. 104 pp. ISBN 3-7026-5760-6 Lea is a quiet but determined little girl, eight years old or thereabouts, who lives with her mother in a peaceful rural area. Her father died a long time ago. Her mother has an exhausting job as a hairdresser and is away for much of the day. Lea spends a lot of time on her own in the countryside with a brusque, loud but kindly neighbour called Martha keeping an occasional eye on her. She is also friendly with Martha’s slightly moody son Lukas, and with Mr Florentin, who looks after a small railway station which is soon likely to be closed. The fact that he might lose his job doesn’t seem to bother Mr Florentin. He is too happy with his books. Sometimes Lea wishes she could escape to an island, so she wouldn’t be able to go to school. And if she couldn’t go to school she wouldn’t have any homework. And if she didn’t have any homework she wouldn’t have to go into the house every evening when her mother called her. She could stay in the meadows daydreaming. She decides to build an island and asks for help from people who, like herself, are not all that keen on the company of others: first Martha, then Lukas, then a reluctant Mr Florentin. Lea and Lukas try to build a raft, which sinks. It is only when Mr Florentin builds a house in a tree that is half submerged by a little stream that Lea’s dream island becomes real. The story is gentle and delicate, the style appropriately simple but also polished. The book is punctuated by descriptions of small, everyday events like eating, doing homework, washing, reading and sleeping. The ending is tinged with melancholy – Mr Florentin moves away – but Lea is consoled by having her ‘island’ to which she can take refuge and reflect about life. A lovely short novel for children of eight years and older.