The Island

The island is the setting that reoccurs most throughout these stories. In "Ava Wrestles the Alligator," Ava and her sister are abandoned in the alligator-themed park, Swamplandia!, which is near Grandpa Sawtooth's cabin. In "Haunting Olivia," the brothers look for their sister's ghost by swimming around the island with their diabolical goggles, then they finally end up at the Glowworm Grotto. ZZ’s Sleepaway Camp for Disordered Dreamers from the eponymous story is located on the island, as is the Bowl-A-Bed hotel from “The Star-Gazer’s Log of Summer-Time Crime,” The Palace of Artificial Snows, and the City of Shells. The island is not named, but it is described as vaguely tropical.

The Mainland

The Mainland is most of the stories in which the island is a key setting. However, characters rarely leave the island and go to the Mainland. Instead, they wait on the island as...