Twin sisters travel by dark of night with their parents, escaping an unnamed terror. The family has abandoned its auto in favor of a wooden cart about which their mother says, "Fugitives can't be choosers." The danger, in the form of roving, guerilla soldiers, catches up with the family before the first chapter of their story ends. To survive, the parents and their girls must part company. So opens Edna Iturralde's fascinating children's novel The Islands Where the Moon Is Born: An Adventure in the Galapagos Islands. Before long, little Caro and Mary are escaping from an Ecuadorian orphanage whose director won't allow them to keep their dog, the humorously named Find-Find. Then, magically, all three-girls and dog-transform into seabirds and are flying to the Galapagos Islands to help save animals who are as endangered as they are. Mary and Caro confront a witch and a mysterious horde of goats and, with the help of two romantic seagulls, the Finch Knights, the Penguin Patrol, and Sharp Teeth, a shy shark, save these marvelous islands, famous as one of our planet's greatest natural wonders.