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4th out of 26 books
—
15 voters
Dr. Franklin's Island
by
Ann Halam
Semi, Miranda, and Arnie are part of a group of 50 British Young Conservationists on their way to a wildlife conservation station deep in the rain forests of Ecuador. After a terrifying mid-air disaster and subsequent crash, these three are the sole survivors, stranded together on a deserted tropical island. Or so they think. Semi, Miranda, and Arnie stumble into the hands...more
Paperback, 272 pages
Published
October 14th 2003
by Laurel Leaf
(first published May 14th 2002)
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Summary:
Three kids go on camp of the smartest kids around from the country of Great Britain are going to Ecuador. These kids then board the plane and sleep until an alarm went off in the plane. Screaming kids and adults wandering what is happening. Finally one of the piolets came out and said we have had a deep engine failure. The plane soon crashed and the three kids were swept away to an island's shore.
All the kids woke up and introduced themselves in atomatic shock. Their names were Semi, M...more
Three kids go on camp of the smartest kids around from the country of Great Britain are going to Ecuador. These kids then board the plane and sleep until an alarm went off in the plane. Screaming kids and adults wandering what is happening. Finally one of the piolets came out and said we have had a deep engine failure. The plane soon crashed and the three kids were swept away to an island's shore.
All the kids woke up and introduced themselves in atomatic shock. Their names were Semi, M...more
Im all done with this book! It was very good but also kinda wired. Here is a quick summary.The three survivors get shots and pills which turns one girl into a bird then it turns the other girl into a manta-ray. The girls find out that they can still communicate through chips that were implanted into them. The girls also find out that their third friend the boy named Arnie had been spying on Dr.Franklin and is trying to find a way to help the girls get back to the way they were before. Arnie find...more
I read this book a long time ago, and recently picked it up again at the library because I remembered it was a great science fiction read and I was looking for something in that genre to satisfy the craving I’ve been having for that sort of book. Dr. Franklin’s Island was just as great as the first time around, reeling me in and dragging me along for the ride.
Of course, the book also freaked me out, in major ways. It took basically everything I fear (being trapped with no escape, having no one k...more
Of course, the book also freaked me out, in major ways. It took basically everything I fear (being trapped with no escape, having no one k...more
This book was pretty good. It was definitely a great idea, but the writing kind of ruined it for me. I really liked the idea, and concept that children were captured and genetically modified to become transgenics, and I thought that the concept of getting lost on an island was good for the idea. Now, I found the original concept to be close to the short story The Most Dangerous Game . Otherwise, the actual idea of humans with DNA is similar to the Maximum Ride series by James Patterson.
To be ho...more
To be ho...more
This was the first of two books I carried along for a lengthy flight to China. I expected (and wanted) something light and easy. Turns out it was that (the target audience is YA), but it was also carefully and thoughtfully put together, which I certainly appreciated.
Basically, this is an update of the old HG Wells novel The Island of Doctor Moreau. A plane crash strands three teenagers on a desert island where they fall into the clutches of a mad scientist whose genetic experiments transform the...more
Basically, this is an update of the old HG Wells novel The Island of Doctor Moreau. A plane crash strands three teenagers on a desert island where they fall into the clutches of a mad scientist whose genetic experiments transform the...more
Let's take a moment to talk briefly on the subject of the Mad Scientist archetype, and his blood brother, the Mad Surgeon. Both of these archetypes, when done well, scare the hell out of me. I don't know quite why, but I suspect it has something to do with seeing a horrible part of The Dentist when I was a wee little thing, and having nightmares for months afterwards.
But... this stereotype does have the potential to go horribly wrong. The surgeon guy in the first Human Centipede film? Sure, he w...more
But... this stereotype does have the potential to go horribly wrong. The surgeon guy in the first Human Centipede film? Sure, he w...more
Dr. Franklin's Island is based off H.G. Wells's The Island of Doctor Moreau. In DFI, a group of British children are traveling by plane to Ecuador, where they will experience wildlife conservation firsthand and interact with native flora and fauna. However, the students never make it to their destination: the plane crashes, and only three survive- Semi, Miranda, and Arnie. They find themselves on a seemingly uninhabited island, actually owned by the brilliant, but quite insane Dr. Franklin, who...more
Semi, Miranda, and Arnie are three teenagers who won a chance to go on an expedition to the Galapagos islands as part of a popular TV show. Unfortunately their plain is hijacked, and crashed on an island that's not so deserted as it appears. Now Arnie is missing, and Semi and Miranda are unwilling guests of Dr. Franklin, who has a plan for them both. They will be test subjects for his first experiment to create transgenic humans.
It's strong because it's not so much about the usual action cliches...more
It's strong because it's not so much about the usual action cliches...more
Oh my goodness, where do I even begin???
First off, this is the first, and I repeat THE FIRST, modern book that is actually science fiction! Most people just don't get that science fiction means science fiction, fiction based on scientific facts. Not fantasy fiction or dystopian fiction.
Our main character, Semi, ends up stranded on an island with Miranda and Arnie after a plane crash. For about forty days, they hunt for food and basically live in what they think is an uninhabited island. One day,...more
First off, this is the first, and I repeat THE FIRST, modern book that is actually science fiction! Most people just don't get that science fiction means science fiction, fiction based on scientific facts. Not fantasy fiction or dystopian fiction.
Our main character, Semi, ends up stranded on an island with Miranda and Arnie after a plane crash. For about forty days, they hunt for food and basically live in what they think is an uninhabited island. One day,...more
Ann Halam's "Dr. Franklin's Island" appears to be a neat inversion of the classic H.G. Well's tale, "The Island of Doctor Moreau." Instead of one man being stranded on an island housing a mad scientist who is surgically altering animals to give them human like bodies and rudimentary capabilities of speech and cult worship, Halam tells the tale of three high school age kids who are stranded on an island with a mad scientist who is trying to give humans animal traits. The plot trips along at a ple...more
Dr. Franklins Island is a very suspensfull book, and it is a very good page turner.
When their is a plane crash in the middle of the ocean their are only 3 people who survive the crash. Dr Franklin is very scary and very manipulitive of their minds. I like how they turn into the animals that they have always wished they could be. But then Dr. Franklin keeps them in cages and studies them and experiments on them. When they see all of the teenagers that he has experimented on and turned into anima...more
When their is a plane crash in the middle of the ocean their are only 3 people who survive the crash. Dr Franklin is very scary and very manipulitive of their minds. I like how they turn into the animals that they have always wished they could be. But then Dr. Franklin keeps them in cages and studies them and experiments on them. When they see all of the teenagers that he has experimented on and turned into anima...more
Cam McDougall
10/4/12
Period 8-9
Dr. Franklin's Island
This is a great book that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Every page is a thrilling experience. It is about a girl named Semi that has won a contest to go to a island to study animals and plants. Sounds like a pretty boring trip but not for Semi shes loves school and is very smart. So on the way there she sits next to a girl that she thinks is really cool on the plane ride and is admiring her as she falls asleep suddenly she wakes up two...more
10/4/12
Period 8-9
Dr. Franklin's Island
This is a great book that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Every page is a thrilling experience. It is about a girl named Semi that has won a contest to go to a island to study animals and plants. Sounds like a pretty boring trip but not for Semi shes loves school and is very smart. So on the way there she sits next to a girl that she thinks is really cool on the plane ride and is admiring her as she falls asleep suddenly she wakes up two...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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why do I like this book so much you ask? well i don't know. but i read it all the imte-it's a quick read-and I absoloutly LOVE it. don't know why. READ IF YOU R AWESOME - and even if you aren't!
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Plane crash, check. Stranded on an island, check. This book has all the makings of what I would read. And it gets better - there's some degree of suspense and a good stream of science-fiction (genetics and stuff), all mixed with a healthy portion of emotion. How do you deal with being the first human guinea pig for an experiment? And not just psychologically - how do you cope when you start... changing? What will you do when your friend, a fellow crash survivor, begins to lose her human consciou...more
I've never read or seen The Island of Dr. Moreau, but I'm guessing that this book is more or less a teen version of the idea. (In an author's note, Ann Halam acknowledges that the novel was "somewhat inspired" by Dr. Moreau.) The beginning was a little slow for me, and I had a hard time liking Semi, the main character. The book is told from her point of view, and, especially at its opening, I sort of found her annoying. The plot picks up and takes a surprising (and graphic) turn towards the midd...more
There's a few spoilers in this. I really liked this book! I thought it definitely had that sorta of creepy factor to it that I love in alot of sci-fi books. Don't ask me why, but I just love in books when chills are sent down your spine. The way Miranda was getting really sick and deformed, I was really afraid she would die, but she did end up becoming a bird. A really wicked cool bird, that is! I always thought of manta rays as kinda average and boring, but after reading this book I'd give anyt...more
This story is a teenage version of The Island of Dr. Moreau. A group of teenage students on their way to a science expedition in Ecuador become stranded on a private island owned by a mad scientist who wants to experiment turning humans into animals. This was an interesting story, but is definitely not for the squeamish. The descriptions of the dead bodies from the plane crash and the scientific experiments are very detailed and a bit horrific. While I wanted to know what happened, I felt like p...more
Jun 11, 2012
De'Zsa
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Science fiction readers
Recommended to De'Zsa by:
Danielle (The Roaring '20s)
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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I am so mabilis in reading this one. Haha! Took me less than a day to finish it. :)))))))))))))))))
After reading this book, I was glad to learn that the author included some questions for discussions at the later part. I grab a pen and paper and wrote down my answers then decided to post it in this blog. :)
1. At the start of the book, Semirah Garson (Semi) looks around at the people she is about to spend three weeks with in the Ecuadorian rain forest and on the Galapagos Islands. She makes judge...more
After reading this book, I was glad to learn that the author included some questions for discussions at the later part. I grab a pen and paper and wrote down my answers then decided to post it in this blog. :)
1. At the start of the book, Semirah Garson (Semi) looks around at the people she is about to spend three weeks with in the Ecuadorian rain forest and on the Galapagos Islands. She makes judge...more
Dr. Franklins Island was a very strange book. I didn’t really like or care for this book at all. I wouldn’t really recommend this book to anyone unless they are love science fiction books. At the beginning of the story a group of teenagers plane crashed in an ocean surrounding a small tropical island on their way to a wildlife conservation center in the rainforests of Ecuador. Only three teens survive the crash. The three are left to fend for themselves on the island and they make an astonishin...more
This book is quite the attention getter. It is more of a sci-fi book but it clenches the reader's attention. The book reveals the young lives of Semi, Miranda, and Arnie,three teenagers who won a chance to go on an expedition to the Galapagos islands as part of a popular TV show that had an unpleasant surprise lurking for them. Their plane is supposedly hi-jacked and it sends the aircraft plummeting down into the intimidating sea below. They all three survive and witness many lives being taken a...more
Semirah Garson never expected to be plane-wrecked. She never expected to meet two people in an airport and have them turn out to be her only companions for the rest of her life. But the world is unpredictable like that. Semi, Miranda and Arnie are the sole survivors of a plane crash that landed them on an small tropical island in the middle of the Pacific. But being stranded is only the start of their nightmare. Dr Franklin's been waiting for them. And now they're here, his experiments can begin...more
Jun 27, 2010
Zoë the Awesome
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone with a strong stomach, people interested in genetics
Shelves:
best-books-ever,
fantasy-sci-fi
My class had spent the entire hour in the library looking novels to do book reports on. I still hadn't found one. The bell would ring in approximately three seconds, so I grabbed the nearest book that looked good. I know it sounds cheesy, but by the time I got home on the bus that day, my eyes were glued to the page. Granted, I was a bit repelled by the talk of dead bodies and genetic mutation. I wouldn't recommend this book for the weak stomached. But for those who enjoy some mild action and ho...more
A scifi thriller inspired by The Island of Dr. Moreau by Wells. This is a story of three conservationists from England who find themselves stranded on an island after their plane goes down. Here they encounter Dr. Franklin who has plans to use them as specimens for his experiments in genetic engineering. As they watch themselves partly transformed into animals they struggle to escape before it is too late to reverse the process. A great story with shades of not-so-far-in-the-distant-future chill...more
Mar 13, 2008
(B) Archer at KIPP
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommended to (B) Archer by:
Lauren Hernandez <3
Shelves:
girls-have-read
This book is about three kids Miranda, Semi, and Anrie who were on a trip to South America. Then their plane crashes, they are the only people who survive. Miranda, the oldest, feels the need to take charge, and knows how to survive. Anrie, the only guy on the island is the most self-fish; he takes things that only benefit him. Semi, the youngest, and she is the quietest.
After the plane crashes and they are in all alone. They wait for days for someone to come and find them, but day after day no...more
After the plane crashes and they are in all alone. They wait for days for someone to come and find them, but day after day no...more
I read this book in the 7th grade and I absolutely loved it. It was a page turner and I read it all in one night. Human to animal transformations always interested me, like the Animorphs books, so this book was perfect for me. I was a bit shocked though to discover that this book was considered horror, it was definately creepy, I'll give it that, but not really scary. I'm surprised by all the reviews that say that it is. Anyways this book is a great read for anyone interested in sci-fi or fantas...more
Oh dear, quite possibly one of the most boring books I have ever read. Okay, I mean, it started out fairly good. And I was confident it would be good because my friend wouldn't let it rest till I read it. But the second they became animals, I seriously was falling asleep. It was SO boring. Nothing was happening. At all. Had to go through pages and pages of a freaking mantra swimming around doing... nothing. The start was okay, and the end was okay. But everything in between was garbage.
I'd rate this 3.5 stars. It was good, but at the same time, could've been scarier or something. Maybe ''scary'' isn't the right word. I think something's lacking a bit in the writing style. You could tell it was written a while ago (2002) 'cause the characters would sometimes say things that we don't say anymore. I didn't like the font and that there were tons of words on one page. There wasn't enough white space. It was definitely an interesting story.
I love this book! it was so different and unique that once I started I could not put it down, there aren't very many characters but it still makes the book a great and addictive read. I had picked this book up out of sheer curiosity, ecxpecting some wierd messed up story to go along with the cover, but it ended up being very good and a interesting read. If you like a different story from all of today's vampires vs werewolves than this is the book for you.
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Ann Halam is a pseudonym of Gwyneth Jones.
As well as being a children’s author, Ann Halam writes adult science fiction and fantasy books as the popular and prizewinning author Gwyneth Jones. Her most recent titles for Wendy Lamb Books are Dr. Franklin’s Island, Taylor Five, and Siberia. She lives in Brighton, England.
More about Ann Halam...
As well as being a children’s author, Ann Halam writes adult science fiction and fantasy books as the popular and prizewinning author Gwyneth Jones. Her most recent titles for Wendy Lamb Books are Dr. Franklin’s Island, Taylor Five, and Siberia. She lives in Brighton, England.
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