Written together with her longtime colleague Angela May, Mary Alice Monroe’s first book series for middle grade readers, The Islanders and its sequel Search for Treasure, is the story of friendships forged in the wild, and what happens when kids unplug and experience nature’s power to heal and unite.

In the first book in the series, The Islanders, introduces young readers to eleven-year-old Jake, who’s spending the summer with his internet-and-cable-television-averse grandmother on remote Dewees Island. The South Carolina barrier island is a nature sanctuary, which means no paved roads, cars, stores, or restaurants but plenty of wildlife and wide open spaces. Alongside Jake and his new friends Macon and Lovie, readers will fall in love with the Lowcountry landscape as well as the furry, finned, and feathered animals with whom they share it.

In the second book in the series, Search for Treasure, it’s a new summer and Jake is excited to spend the summer with his grandmother, and his father too. The two are struggling to adjust to a new normal after a devastating injury, and Jake hopes time together on the remote island will lift his dad’s spirits. News of an old gold doubloon uncovered on Dewees Island sparks a quest in Jake’s heart: Operation Treasure Hunt. After convincing his two best friends to be treasure hunters with him, they are on a mission to find an old map that leads to a long forgotten tree fort that Jake is sure will make his dad happy again.