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Island #1
Shipwreck
An action-packed survival suspense from bestselling and award-winning author Gordon Korman
Six kids. One shipwreck. One desert island.They didn't want to be on the boat in the first place. They were sent there as punishment, or as a character-building experience. Now the adults are gone, and the quest for survival has begun.
Six kids. One shipwreck. One desert island.They didn't want to be on the boat in the first place. They were sent there as punishment, or as a character-building experience. Now the adults are gone, and the quest for survival has begun.
2 pages, Audio CD
First published June 1, 2001
184 people are currently reading
2768 people want to read
About the author
Gordon Korman
249 books4,408 followersGordon Korman is a Canadian author of children's and young adult fiction books. Korman's books have sold more than 30 million copies worldwide over a career spanning four decades and have appeared at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 511 reviews
July 25, 2008
A bunch of unlikable, incredibly stupid children end up on a boat together and continue to do stupid things until they cause a shipwreck in the middle of the Pacific. I really don't like books where the suspense comes from the characters being dumb.
June 1, 2020
Audio narrated by Holter Graham (always terrific).
Great adventure/survival story for middle grade readers on up. It kept my interest throughout. I definitely want to move forward with this series. Crossing my fingers it doesn't end up like Lord of the Flies!
Great adventure/survival story for middle grade readers on up. It kept my interest throughout. I definitely want to move forward with this series. Crossing my fingers it doesn't end up like Lord of the Flies!
September 2, 2022
This is the start of a series, which looks more like a biggish book broken up into a bunch of very short books to make more money. Six kids are sent on a boat excursion. It’s a troubled youth program of some kind, though these kids are quite young. Most of this one-act book is getting to know the characters, which then ends with the shipwreck promised by the title.
The characters are good, and the writing is solid. The book is written in san serif in block paragraphs. That was kind of strange to read.
Language: Clean
Sexual Content: None
Violence: Mild
Harm to Animals:
Harm to Children:
Other (Triggers):
The characters are good, and the writing is solid. The book is written in san serif in block paragraphs. That was kind of strange to read.
Language: Clean
Sexual Content: None
Violence: Mild
Harm to Animals:
Harm to Children:
Other (Triggers):
February 26, 2020
Six children are sent on a month-long character-building/rehabilitation trip on a schooner. The goals: learn teamwork, respect for authority, and stay out of trouble.
Sounds great... until things start going wrong, and now the individuals really do have to start working together if they want any chance of surviving.
Holter Graham, as always, is a great narrator. (I wonder if I enjoyed the third book the least because I had to read it in paperback instead?)
Sounds great... until things start going wrong, and now the individuals really do have to start working together if they want any chance of surviving.
Holter Graham, as always, is a great narrator. (I wonder if I enjoyed the third book the least because I had to read it in paperback instead?)
Read
October 12, 2017It was a good book. I read this one because it was a survival book. I'm waiting on the rest of the Stranded series.
May 20, 2021
Good book for elementary school kids.
Bunch of misfit trouble makers get sent on a ship to smarten up lol because their parents have had enough of their bad behavior.
The dialogue was interesting between the kids.
How they become better people is interesting. Learn teamwork and gain respect for authority.
Story was very simple and easy to understand.
Good ending that makes you want to read the next one.
Reminded me of Lord of the Flies with the boys and trying to be civil, resourceful with ethical and social complexes.
Bunch of misfit trouble makers get sent on a ship to smarten up lol because their parents have had enough of their bad behavior.
The dialogue was interesting between the kids.
How they become better people is interesting. Learn teamwork and gain respect for authority.
Story was very simple and easy to understand.
Good ending that makes you want to read the next one.
Reminded me of Lord of the Flies with the boys and trying to be civil, resourceful with ethical and social complexes.
August 9, 2023
Fun start to a trilogy. Looking forward to next 2 books
November 1, 2024
Part 1 of a Middle-Grade, three-part, serialized, survivalist novel from 2001, which is frequently, nonsensically and melodramatically poorly motivated
Six teenagers, ranging in age from 13 to 16, Luke, Ian Charla, Will, Lyssa, and J.J, are condemned by their parents (ranging in motivation for their cruelty from desperate to delusional) to be trapped, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, on a small, two-masted schooner, the Phoenix, crewed by only a captain and a first mate, for a 4-week, seafaring boot camp for juvenile delinquents called Charting a New Course (CNC).
Luke was set up by a supposed friend to get in trouble with the law by storing a gun in Luke's locker at school. The judge gave him a choice between juvenile detention or CNC. Luke is actually a decent kid, who is consistently capable of both rational decision making and emotional empathy for others.
Ian is a brilliant, scholarly kid, whose favorite pre-CNC activity (in 2001 when there were no ubiquitous cell phones or internet usage) was watching documentaries on the Discovery channel via cable TV. His parents dispatched him to CNC, thousands of miles away and with no way to stay in contact with him for four whole weeks, merely because they decided that he was a geeky little couch potato who needed to get out of the house more. Rather than enrolling him in a local kids' sports club or a class in martial arts, they went to the the utterly improbable extreme of signing him up for a pricey program geared toward dangerous teens with criminal tendencies. Conveniently to the plot, Ian becomes the entire source of practical knowledge about surviving a shipwreck and living on a deserted, tropical island.
Prior to this voyage of the damned, Charla had been on course to become an Olympic swimmer. She also excels at gymnastics and many other competitive sports. She got completely burned out from her physical overachievement and, again, utterly improbably, her parents spent a huge amount of money, that they could ill afford, to send her to CNC, a situation which involves constant, gruelling, enforced labor on the Phoenix. This is definitely not a way to overcome her burnout from excessive physical exertion. However, Charla is conveniently on the Phoenix because her strength and coordination come in handy for group survival during and after the shipwreck.
As a change from the previous three characters, it actually makes sense that Will and Lyssa have been imprisoned on the Phoenix. They are siblings who hate each other so much that they have constantly verbally abused each for their entire lives, and they have regularly escalated that abuse into physically assaulting each other. In the recent past, they went so far as to land each other in the hospital with bloody injuries. It finally became clear to their parents that, if they did not perform some kind of radical intervention, it would be only a matter of time before one of them murders the other. Lyssa is very skilled at engine repair, but Will is incompetent in every possible way. He is a one-dimensional character who exists solely to cause problems, both on the sinking ship, and on the island where they are stranded.
J.J. is the character who most deserves to be on the Phoenix. He is the spoiled, endlessly overindulged son of a major movie star, who has only been saved from juvenile jail on multiple occasions because his father kept buying off the people he harmed. J.J. has poor impulse control and a sociopathic inability to feel empathy for others. His pranks had been getting increasingly destructive, until the most recent one finally convinced his father that he needed to take drastic action. J.J. drove his enormously expensive sports car through the front window of an upscale art gallery, in the process wrecking the car and damaging paintings worth millions and, amazingly, avoided striking a customer. J.J. has been warned that, if he keeps up his impulsive, destructive behavior, someone is going to get killed. Which, of course, is what inevitably happens, because this character conveniently exists, similar to Will, to help ensure that the titular shipwreck occurs.
The Phoenix is small and very uncomfortable for the teenagers. The captain is pleasant to them but the first mate, whom the beleaguered teens nickname, Rat-face, is verbally and physically abusive to them, constantly sneering at them and frequently setting them up to be injured by equipment on the ship. The captain is complicit in these horrendous actions, because he does not interfere to stop or mitigate behaviors that are actual crimes. (Ironically, this is one of the parts of the story that is actually realistic, because teen boot camps of all kinds are notorious for torturing the kids to the point of causing far too many to die from neglect, exposure and injuries.) Ultimately, before this ship sinks, after an enormous storm with 40-foot waves, in which the captain is killed, Rat-face deserts them, taking the lifeboat and half the supplies and leaving them to die on the sinking ship. Within a short period of time, the incompetent, inexperienced teenagers manage to cause an explosion that finishes the job of sinking the Phoenix that the storm began. In the process, it seems as if only four of the teenagers survive. Throughout this installment and the second one, we don't know what happened to J.J. and Lyssa. They are presumed dead.
In furtherance of an exhausting action-adventure plot, this three-part serialized novel is riddled with improbable motivations, actions and situations, as well as endless convenient coincidences.
Having said all that, this is a novel written for children who in are in the 5th or 6th grade, and the obvious authorial presumption is that these are inevitably naive, low-information readers who will enjoy this story in spite of its being an inaccurate, hodgepodge of nonsense. That's not a huge problem for me in this author's comedy, because comedy is all about exaggeration for humorous effect. But in action-adventure, outlandish exaggeration turns what might have been a thrilling and believable plot into an irritating mass of melodrama.
I obtained access to both the ebook and audiobook versions of this series through Hoopla. I decided to give it a try for three reasons: I really like GK's comedies. The narrator, Holter Graham, is a brilliant voice talent whom I was previously familiar with, because he has narrated the Alpha and Omega series by Patricia Briggs. And mainly because it didn't cost me anything. I ended up switching from the audiobook version to skimming the ebook version of this three-part novel just to get through it as quickly as possible, because nothing about it was enjoyable for me.
I believe that reluctant, male readers who are between the ages of 10 and 12 (GK's primary audience of choice) would probably enjoy this series. For them, this would probably be a 4-star read. Unfortunately, I doubt that an intelligent, inquisitive 8-year-old, who is a voracious reader, such as my granddaughter, is likely to enjoy this series for the same reasons I did not. In addition, my granddaughter is currently reading the ultimate shipwreck novel, The Swiss Family Robinson, and this series is not in the same universe of realistic detail regarding survival competency as that classic, 19th century novel.
Six teenagers, ranging in age from 13 to 16, Luke, Ian Charla, Will, Lyssa, and J.J, are condemned by their parents (ranging in motivation for their cruelty from desperate to delusional) to be trapped, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, on a small, two-masted schooner, the Phoenix, crewed by only a captain and a first mate, for a 4-week, seafaring boot camp for juvenile delinquents called Charting a New Course (CNC).
Luke was set up by a supposed friend to get in trouble with the law by storing a gun in Luke's locker at school. The judge gave him a choice between juvenile detention or CNC. Luke is actually a decent kid, who is consistently capable of both rational decision making and emotional empathy for others.
Ian is a brilliant, scholarly kid, whose favorite pre-CNC activity (in 2001 when there were no ubiquitous cell phones or internet usage) was watching documentaries on the Discovery channel via cable TV. His parents dispatched him to CNC, thousands of miles away and with no way to stay in contact with him for four whole weeks, merely because they decided that he was a geeky little couch potato who needed to get out of the house more. Rather than enrolling him in a local kids' sports club or a class in martial arts, they went to the the utterly improbable extreme of signing him up for a pricey program geared toward dangerous teens with criminal tendencies. Conveniently to the plot, Ian becomes the entire source of practical knowledge about surviving a shipwreck and living on a deserted, tropical island.
Prior to this voyage of the damned, Charla had been on course to become an Olympic swimmer. She also excels at gymnastics and many other competitive sports. She got completely burned out from her physical overachievement and, again, utterly improbably, her parents spent a huge amount of money, that they could ill afford, to send her to CNC, a situation which involves constant, gruelling, enforced labor on the Phoenix. This is definitely not a way to overcome her burnout from excessive physical exertion. However, Charla is conveniently on the Phoenix because her strength and coordination come in handy for group survival during and after the shipwreck.
As a change from the previous three characters, it actually makes sense that Will and Lyssa have been imprisoned on the Phoenix. They are siblings who hate each other so much that they have constantly verbally abused each for their entire lives, and they have regularly escalated that abuse into physically assaulting each other. In the recent past, they went so far as to land each other in the hospital with bloody injuries. It finally became clear to their parents that, if they did not perform some kind of radical intervention, it would be only a matter of time before one of them murders the other. Lyssa is very skilled at engine repair, but Will is incompetent in every possible way. He is a one-dimensional character who exists solely to cause problems, both on the sinking ship, and on the island where they are stranded.
J.J. is the character who most deserves to be on the Phoenix. He is the spoiled, endlessly overindulged son of a major movie star, who has only been saved from juvenile jail on multiple occasions because his father kept buying off the people he harmed. J.J. has poor impulse control and a sociopathic inability to feel empathy for others. His pranks had been getting increasingly destructive, until the most recent one finally convinced his father that he needed to take drastic action. J.J. drove his enormously expensive sports car through the front window of an upscale art gallery, in the process wrecking the car and damaging paintings worth millions and, amazingly, avoided striking a customer. J.J. has been warned that, if he keeps up his impulsive, destructive behavior, someone is going to get killed. Which, of course, is what inevitably happens, because this character conveniently exists, similar to Will, to help ensure that the titular shipwreck occurs.
The Phoenix is small and very uncomfortable for the teenagers. The captain is pleasant to them but the first mate, whom the beleaguered teens nickname, Rat-face, is verbally and physically abusive to them, constantly sneering at them and frequently setting them up to be injured by equipment on the ship. The captain is complicit in these horrendous actions, because he does not interfere to stop or mitigate behaviors that are actual crimes. (Ironically, this is one of the parts of the story that is actually realistic, because teen boot camps of all kinds are notorious for torturing the kids to the point of causing far too many to die from neglect, exposure and injuries.) Ultimately, before this ship sinks, after an enormous storm with 40-foot waves, in which the captain is killed, Rat-face deserts them, taking the lifeboat and half the supplies and leaving them to die on the sinking ship. Within a short period of time, the incompetent, inexperienced teenagers manage to cause an explosion that finishes the job of sinking the Phoenix that the storm began. In the process, it seems as if only four of the teenagers survive. Throughout this installment and the second one, we don't know what happened to J.J. and Lyssa. They are presumed dead.
In furtherance of an exhausting action-adventure plot, this three-part serialized novel is riddled with improbable motivations, actions and situations, as well as endless convenient coincidences.
Having said all that, this is a novel written for children who in are in the 5th or 6th grade, and the obvious authorial presumption is that these are inevitably naive, low-information readers who will enjoy this story in spite of its being an inaccurate, hodgepodge of nonsense. That's not a huge problem for me in this author's comedy, because comedy is all about exaggeration for humorous effect. But in action-adventure, outlandish exaggeration turns what might have been a thrilling and believable plot into an irritating mass of melodrama.
I obtained access to both the ebook and audiobook versions of this series through Hoopla. I decided to give it a try for three reasons: I really like GK's comedies. The narrator, Holter Graham, is a brilliant voice talent whom I was previously familiar with, because he has narrated the Alpha and Omega series by Patricia Briggs. And mainly because it didn't cost me anything. I ended up switching from the audiobook version to skimming the ebook version of this three-part novel just to get through it as quickly as possible, because nothing about it was enjoyable for me.
I believe that reluctant, male readers who are between the ages of 10 and 12 (GK's primary audience of choice) would probably enjoy this series. For them, this would probably be a 4-star read. Unfortunately, I doubt that an intelligent, inquisitive 8-year-old, who is a voracious reader, such as my granddaughter, is likely to enjoy this series for the same reasons I did not. In addition, my granddaughter is currently reading the ultimate shipwreck novel, The Swiss Family Robinson, and this series is not in the same universe of realistic detail regarding survival competency as that classic, 19th century novel.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 14, 2017
Frankly, these series deserve four stars just for being so addictive. Gordon Korman really does know how to build suspense and tension in his books. This series isn't anything particularly new, but the way it's told makes it so much better.
This series also manages to get in some decent character work. These characters won't win any awards, but they carry and drive the story. These six also develop a decent amount, to the point where they become much more likable by the end of the series.
Definitely recommended for any middle grade readers.
This series also manages to get in some decent character work. These characters won't win any awards, but they carry and drive the story. These six also develop a decent amount, to the point where they become much more likable by the end of the series.
Definitely recommended for any middle grade readers.
September 26, 2022
A short yet intense read of adventure and comradeship. Slight language.
February 5, 2022
An okay adventure story about some shipwrecked kids. The writer was pushing for great grammar and words which put me off at the start. Still not a bad read for the weekend and kids.
September 30, 2015
What would do if you were drowning on a boat in the Pacific Ocean? Could u swim for days? How would you feel? Would you give up or try to survive? The genre of the book is realistic fiction.I think it was a pretty good book.
Shipwreck took place in the Pacific Ocean. It was about 6 kids that were behaving bad at home and were send to a camp where they work and think about all the bad things they have done and 2 captains that were trapped on a boat in a big storm in the Pacific Ocean. The conflict was person vs nature
The title relates to the book because a shipwreck acutally happens in the book. In the book a huge waves hit the boat and destroy the boat. In the story many bad things happen thatare caused by the water. Many things happend to the boat and the 6 kids and both captians.
I was surprised when *spolier alert* the 2 captains died and the 6 kids made it out alive. i was surprised of this because I thought something bad was gunna happen to all of them or I thought they were all gunna die.
I rate this book a 5 because it had many shocking moments and shcoking moments and it was interesting in where and how it took place. I recommend this book to people who love to read adventureous, interesting, and shoking books. I enjoyed this book.
Shipwreck took place in the Pacific Ocean. It was about 6 kids that were behaving bad at home and were send to a camp where they work and think about all the bad things they have done and 2 captains that were trapped on a boat in a big storm in the Pacific Ocean. The conflict was person vs nature
The title relates to the book because a shipwreck acutally happens in the book. In the book a huge waves hit the boat and destroy the boat. In the story many bad things happen thatare caused by the water. Many things happend to the boat and the 6 kids and both captians.
I was surprised when *spolier alert* the 2 captains died and the 6 kids made it out alive. i was surprised of this because I thought something bad was gunna happen to all of them or I thought they were all gunna die.
I rate this book a 5 because it had many shocking moments and shcoking moments and it was interesting in where and how it took place. I recommend this book to people who love to read adventureous, interesting, and shoking books. I enjoyed this book.
June 2, 2015
This book was short but really good. It was full of action and intensity because their boat catches on fire and the main captain died and the co-captain left them and took the safety raft.
May 26, 2017
This series was a favorite read-aloud for my kids. In fact, pretty much everything we have read by Gordon Korman has been a winner!
April 14, 2025
Island: Shipwreck by Gordon Korman (2001)
Island #1
2h 32m narrated by Holter Graham, 144 pages
Genre: Juvenile Fiction > Young Adult, Middle-Grade; Adventure
Featuring: Music, Dates, July 2015, Large Schooner, Guam, Ship Vocabulary, Young Delinquents, Charting A New Course Program, Month Long Cruise, Teen Crew, Survival Trope, Violence, Peril
Rating as a movie: PG-13
My rating: ⛵️🏝⭐️⭐️⭐️
My thoughts: 📱33% 49:46 Chapter 8 Saturday, July 15, 0650 - This feels like it might be really good. I'm hoping no one dies.
📱43% 1:05:36 Chapter 10 Saturday, July 15, 2015 - I was afraid something like this was going to happen now. I have to deal with survivor's guilt on top of a shipwreck.
📱56% 1:25:41 Chapter 12 Monday, July 17, 0645 - My son says they are building the suspense, but if this shipwreck happens at the end of this book I'm going to be livid.
📱61% 1:33:06 Chapter 13 Monday, July 17, 1440 - My son is officially annoyed and has caught on that I've been listening to music instead of this audiobook because I want to finish my Cape May books before any other titles. The suspense is killing him, so hopefully, I can knock my last one out so we can listen this afternoon; the excitement is high.
I'm not a fan but my son is. For me, it was just okay. I'm being forced to continue, I'm not mad about it but I would stop here if were reading solo.
Recommend to others: Yes, especially if you like survival stories, I usually don't.
Island
1. Shipwreck (2001)
2. Survival (2001)
3. Escape (2001)
Island #1
2h 32m narrated by Holter Graham, 144 pages
Genre: Juvenile Fiction > Young Adult, Middle-Grade; Adventure
Featuring: Music, Dates, July 2015, Large Schooner, Guam, Ship Vocabulary, Young Delinquents, Charting A New Course Program, Month Long Cruise, Teen Crew, Survival Trope, Violence, Peril
Rating as a movie: PG-13
My rating: ⛵️🏝⭐️⭐️⭐️
My thoughts: 📱33% 49:46 Chapter 8 Saturday, July 15, 0650 - This feels like it might be really good. I'm hoping no one dies.
📱43% 1:05:36 Chapter 10 Saturday, July 15, 2015 - I was afraid something like this was going to happen now. I have to deal with survivor's guilt on top of a shipwreck.
📱56% 1:25:41 Chapter 12 Monday, July 17, 0645 - My son says they are building the suspense, but if this shipwreck happens at the end of this book I'm going to be livid.
📱61% 1:33:06 Chapter 13 Monday, July 17, 1440 - My son is officially annoyed and has caught on that I've been listening to music instead of this audiobook because I want to finish my Cape May books before any other titles. The suspense is killing him, so hopefully, I can knock my last one out so we can listen this afternoon; the excitement is high.
I'm not a fan but my son is. For me, it was just okay. I'm being forced to continue, I'm not mad about it but I would stop here if were reading solo.
Recommend to others: Yes, especially if you like survival stories, I usually don't.
Island
1. Shipwreck (2001)
2. Survival (2001)
3. Escape (2001)
June 12, 2017
I read this book when I was younger but wanted to read it again because it is so good. The theme in the book is to look at the bright side of things. In this book a group of friends are stuck in the middle of the Pacific island with people they don't like. But they all looked at the bright side of it and said they all had each other. Then all the friends were trapped on a Island together after a storm and their only way of survival was each other. All of the friends stayed positive and kept looking at the bright side of things and because of that all of the friends stayed alive.
November 27, 2022
Ah yes Korman writing kids in ridiculously unexpected danger...
March 8, 2022
This book was better than anticipated! Short and action packed. I think I may continue on with the trilogy to find out what happens.
Great middle grade level read.
Great middle grade level read.
Read
January 24, 2024It’s possible that this isn’t the book I thought I remembered reading as a kid
July 26, 2018
Read this one aloud to students because I remembered enjoying it when I was a kid. It kept the kids interested and I liked being able to introduce some boat lingo to them.
A few liked it enough to check out other Korman books, so I think that is a win - bumped it from 3 stars to 4 because of their interest.
A few liked it enough to check out other Korman books, so I think that is a win - bumped it from 3 stars to 4 because of their interest.
December 15, 2024
Rereading this only because my fifth grade teacher read this to my class as a whole. She went over how to read military time and emergency preparedness all in the same lesson over one whole week. It was a fun time. I miss her ❤️
April 27, 2025
Good not great. 3.7 stars
April 5, 2025
Yes. I just read the book my daughter is reading in 5th grade.
March 8, 2025
i feel like i shouldve left this in elementary school but its literally the same as what i remember so i got what i got i suppose
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February 27, 2017
Shipwreck
is a book about kids who are sent on a ship by their parents because they have broken the rules many times, they don't really seem the best of friends. But when a giant tropical storm hits them, they need to survive with everyone.
I didnt really like this book, in the beginning, at the end it god really interesting. It ends at a cliff hanger which makes me want to read the next book. I think people who like natural disaster books would find this book interesting.
I didnt really like this book, in the beginning, at the end it god really interesting. It ends at a cliff hanger which makes me want to read the next book. I think people who like natural disaster books would find this book interesting.
October 8, 2025
I really like the book because it is a type of book of survival so if you want to read this book it is about survival and how they survive
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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November 6, 2008This book is very interesting. If you like islands and what to do about suviving on it with just you and your friends, then i recommend this to those. In shipwrecked there are alot of conflicts. I like The smart kid Arnney the most because he watches the discovery channel alot and knows what to do. I didnt like the dark skinnedgirl. She had a bad atitude and snotty. If this book was made into a movie i would love to act out Andrew. You arnt reallt able to to predict what happens in the end. I think its the whats going to happen if they get recued question kept me going. It kept me in a whats going to happen feeling. My favirote line has to be by Andrew "What is your problem dude, Are you special ed or something?" The scene when they enetered the island they had really no idea about eachother. I think the author wrote this book because his imagonation was based on kids who were bad or had problems get sent to an island for survival with other students they dont know with the same problems as them. This book kinda reminds me of saw the movie. I don’t know how to explain the real or main exact reason for such an insane book written in the mystery way. I loved this book a whole whole lot. There is a series of these kind of books. The island shipwrecked is the blue one, the green one is well cant remember and there a red one. There are only three. I havnt read three yet but im planning on it. I heard three is the biggest one of all three like there is a huge twist at the end. I would definitely recommend this to everyone.
January 10, 2025
A small group of troubled students take a trip on the ship, the Phoenix, to improve their behavior. A violent storm causes the Phoenix to sink. The students survive and make it to a remote island. Book one is followed by two books, Survival and Escape. Fast paced and full of adventure!
May 31, 2009
I have my 4th grade teacher to thank for reading this book aloud to us in class...the adventure immediately swept me up.
Luke Haggerty is on a boat trip he never wanted to be on...a correctional journey for problem kids that need work to whip them into shape. But Luke is innocent, falsely accused of stashing a gun in his locker. His fellow crew members are no better off...Will and Lissa, whose sibling rivalry is ferociously violent, Ian, who watched too much TV, Charla, who was too into sports training, and JJ, the spoiled movie star's son. But when circumstance throws them together, not only on the boat journey but on a terrible shipwreck, they are going to have to get along and use their unique talents, or die.
The parts at the beginning are a little slow, but everything picks up from there, and the other two books continue this exciting saga. Gordon Korman is great at writing these adventure tales, making sure that his characters are strong, but still very real.
Luke Haggerty is on a boat trip he never wanted to be on...a correctional journey for problem kids that need work to whip them into shape. But Luke is innocent, falsely accused of stashing a gun in his locker. His fellow crew members are no better off...Will and Lissa, whose sibling rivalry is ferociously violent, Ian, who watched too much TV, Charla, who was too into sports training, and JJ, the spoiled movie star's son. But when circumstance throws them together, not only on the boat journey but on a terrible shipwreck, they are going to have to get along and use their unique talents, or die.
The parts at the beginning are a little slow, but everything picks up from there, and the other two books continue this exciting saga. Gordon Korman is great at writing these adventure tales, making sure that his characters are strong, but still very real.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 511 reviews