YA fiction. Kids have to be "reformed," working on an island during summer. One is named Juan. Butter knife used as weapon.

[Fire]

On the island, these supposed kids have to be "reformed", where they have to work for this reformatory summer like school. It's not holes, but it's very similar. I read it in 2015, and I'm pretty sure one of the kid's names was Juan if that helps, and there was a butter knife used as one of weapons.

[Jennifer]

Lord of the Flies?

[Rainbowheart]

It's definitely not Lord of the Flies.

Maybe Blood on the Beach?

[Fire]

I'm afraid it's neither of those, since there's no reformatory like school in Lord of the Flies, and the 2nd book was released in 2017.

[Rainbowheart]

Might want to check the Rehabilitation Camps list?

[Becca]

Was there some kind of freak accident (earthquake / electrical storm or similar) that killed all the adults? If so, I'm sure I've tracked this down for someone before - I will dig through my history.

Edit: The one I was thinking of is Scar Island by Dan Gemeinhart, but I don't think it includes a character called Juan.

[Fire]

That was what I thought at first, but the book was published in 2017, so it's impossible for that to have been it

[Kris]

Erjon, I added more details to the topic header, so your book might be recognized from that description alone. Many members only read the headers.

Feel free to update it by clicking the small "edit" link after the header. This only works on the full Desktop website - not the Mobile website or app. (On the Mobile website, there's a "Desktop version" link at the bottom of the page.)

- How old are the kids? I guessed teens, hence, "YA" in the header. Only boys?

[Becca]

I'm not sure if you're still looking for this, but maybe the Bad series by Pseudonymous Bosch? The first book Bad Magic was released in 2014, and the second book Bad News in 2016 - I know you said 2015, but the second book is the one where a character called Kwan picks up a butter knife and says 'Always handy to have a weapon on you'.

The series has some fantasy elements so let us know if the book you're looking for is more realistic. And does the butter knife incident happen in the book, or was it a prior event that was mentioned (e.g. the reason a character ended up on the island)?

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Fire left the group. Moving to Abandoned.