Life for a child can be somewhat challenging on an island that has no schools, houses an active military base, and sometimes runs out of water. At least, this is how it was for Matilda Silvia, whose army father arrived on Peddock's Island in 1904, when Fort Andrews was first established. Silvia describes taking a boat to school on the mainland of Hull, Massachusetts each day. She would also watch military maneuvers on top of a hill with family and friends. When her house caught on fire, she explains trying to put it out with buckets of ocean water. Until this day, Peddock's Island, one of fourteen islands in Boston Harbor, is still inhabited by "island folk." Silvia's family lived there until 2000, when the Metropolitan District Commission took it over. This delightful facsimile of memories told in the author's own voice is accompanied by photographs that date back to the turn of the century. A visit from President Calvin Coolidge, a photo with Charles Lindbergh, and a later appearance by Eleanor Roosevelt all encapsulate the way in which Silvia naturally weaves history into every day life on "her" island. As change quickly occurs (the arrival of telephones and radio, as well as erosion on the island), Once Upon an Island maintains a reminiscent and child-like quality, while celebrating the coming of age as well as the presence of the Harbor Islands.