Jean Brown's story, of her experiences with children on holiday in the Hebrides, is a song in praise of beautiful islands and isolated shores. It tells of the hospitality and humour of the Hebridean crofters, the challenge of extremes of weather and the activity and joy of the Yorkshire boys and girls whose good fortune it has been to return year after year.
Here is a happy story, a kaleidoscope of anecdotes, amusing and sensitive, which evoke an atmosphere of freedom, fun and friendship. It tells of the unique relationship between the islanders and the children camping on the shore; a story of 'ceud mile failte', a hundred thousand welcomes.
'A Song to Sing and a Tale to Tell' is one of the few stories to be written wholly in appreciation of today's children, their tolerance, resourcefulness and above all their gaiety.

Jean Brown, with her sister Margaret and Hazel Belsey, has taken more than two hundred and fifty children to sixteen of the Hebridean Islands. Her story will not only appeal to those who can identify themselves with her, to those who love beautiful places or know the Hebrides; nor only to those who have camped in unspoilt places and wandered quiet roads uninhibited by time; it will be equally enjoyed by those who merely wish to share those experiences from the comfort of an armchair.
'A Song to Sing and a Tale to Tell' is written simply, with a sense of humour and an inherent love of children and the open air.