The Castaway Kids and the Pirates of Zactrala Island

by Jon Stremel, Chris Graue, Joseph Bagwell (Illustrator)

Danny Herrera is an overweight, 13-year-old misfit from San Francisco, California who lives with his lazy, bullying uncles. They decide to send Danny away to Fat Camp during his last summer before high school as a cruel punishment. Instead, Danny gathers his group of unlikely friends and devises a plan to steal a boat and escape their horrible situation in order to have the perfect summer they feel they deserve.

Rough seas, ruthless pirates, and a mysterious island turn Danny's pleasure cruise into a dangerous quest for survival he and his friends will never forget. Will this be the last summer for the Castaway Kids? Or can Danny become a strong leader and prove to everyone he's not a lost cause?

318 pages, Paperback

First published October 4, 2013

Reviews

[Purple Dragon Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book for my 8th grade daughter. With the main character being a boy, and the book is about his summer adventure at sea, I wasn't sure if she would be as intrigued by the plot. I shouldn't have worried... once she started, she couldn't put the book down and finished it within three days. While it's always good to see her reading and enjoying a book, I really loved her description to me about it afterwards. My daughter said it was about a 13yr old boy who was bullied about his weight and instead of going to a fat kids camp for the summer, the main character finds a group of friends as funny and different from each other as could be, and they go on an ocean adventure with pirates, storms at sea and a spooky island. From my daughter's 8th grade perspective she says, "He learns he can be a good person and a leader no matter what his weight or size." Well, if that's not one of the best lessons we can teach our middle school children, than I don't know what is. I'd give this book more than 5 stars if I could! Hopefully there will be more adventures written by the authors with beautiful lessons weaved into the exciting plots. This should be on every middle school English teachers shelf!

[Chris Graue · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it...but I'm a little biased.