“Deen was the only person left in her world who’d been here when Jinny had arrived. She couldn’t remember that day, and she doubted he could either, but it still meant something. For as far back as she could recall there had been Deen, exactly a head above her. Her constant companion. Now he was leaving, and she would become Elder, the tallest tree, with the longest memory. She didn’t feel ready.”

The metaphor of the “tallest tree” to describe the oldest child on the island is significant because Jinny later reads the others The Giving Tree, in which a tree gives everything it has to a little boy, similar to a parent or caregiver. Additionally, the sentence “She didn’t feel ready” recurs several times throughout the early chapters, emphasizing how Jinny feels unprepared for the massive changes of losing her best friend, accepting responsibility for an adopted toddler, and becoming the group’s leader, all in one day and at the age of around 12 or 13. The passage underscores how Jinny suddenly feels the pressure of her coming-of-age process.

“Nine on an island, orphans all,

Any more—

[…]

And the sky might fall.”

With no one to explain to them why they’ve been sent to the island or why the eldest must leave when the boat arrives, the children rely on folklore passed down through “generations” of other children who once lived there. This rhyme warns that something disastrous will happen if the kids break the rules, specifically the rule about when it’s one’s time to leave. Jinny questions whether the sky can really fall or if anything bad would happen.