Alexander Smith McCall (you may already love him from the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency) has written a book about homeschoolers! In School Ship Tobermory, homeschooled twins Fee and Ben (they live in a submarine) sign on board a sailing school, where they study with children from all over the world while learning to navigate the ocean and find themselves in the middle of a mystery involving a movie crew on a neighboring ship.

School Ship Tobermory reminded me a little of Swallows and Amazons, which makes sense, since both books are focused around the adventures and pleasures of sailing. They also share a similar old-fashioned vibe—most everyone you meet is nice, except the bad guys, who are immediately and obviously up to no good. While I like a little more nuance in my books, this black-and-white moral universe never really annoys me in middle grades adventure books, which is definitely what this is. There’s lots of explanation of sailing terms and duties, which would be interesting to kids who are curious about sailing but might get annoying to kids who are already familiar with that world. It feels like a solid, pleasant book, and the detailed illustrations are really charming. (Plus it’s always nice to find totally normal homeschoolers in literature.)

I really became a big fan of Middle Grade books in 2016, thanks to James Patterson's Treasure Hunters series. I was so excited to see that Alexander McCall Smith had written a MG series. I'm such a fan of the Ladies Detective Agency series, and I'm so happy that he has ventured into the MG world.

This series centers around 2 main characters, Ben and Fee, who are brother and sister. They join their classmates on the school ship, the Tobermory where adventure quickly ensues! A neighboring ship has a camera crew on board filming, and the kids are enthralled by it.

I really enjoyed the setting, I think it added a really fun element to the story that kids will really love. It was a really enjoyable start to the series and I look forward to checking out the next in the series!