Sebastian and his two best friends (Étienne and Lina) are spending the summer at a Climate Avengers Summer Camp in Tonga. However, when an evening of beach games turns competitive, it's Sebastian who dares three of the other camp mates (Lukas, Benedict and Francesca) to a boat race... a boat race that goes terribly wrong and lands Sebastian, Étienne and Lina stranded on a desert island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Once the shock (and anger in Lina's case) wears off, the trio need to work out how they are going to survive and figure out how on Earth they are going to get themselves rescued.
I'm a big fan of Jenny's books and anybody who reads my blog regularly will know that I love the way she is able to make readers laugh (you may also remember that my son nearly disowned me on a train in Italy due to my uncontrollable laughter at Operation Nativity (you can read the review here) so when the arrival of Shipwrecked coincided with the Easter holidays, clearly I abandoned everything in favour of curling up with the book.
I can categorically tell you now that Shipwrecked is a wonderful story full of hope, love and determination with a host of brilliant characters, both human and animal. Jenny's ability to weave humour with serious messages is, once again, brilliantly done, and I already know that there is going to be a fight for this book on the first day of next term: my class will be VERY excited when they see it!
Sebastian is a great character who is clearly very competitive (it's what got him and his friends into this mess!). With his mother living on the other side of the world, it's just him and his father, and he feels the need to prove himself to his father, to ensure that his father is impressed with what he is doing. Unfortunately, it never seems to end well (case in point: ending up stranded on a desert island!). He makes me laugh throughout the book with his competitive nature and the things he does to prove himself, but I also wanted to give him a big hug so many times. Lina, on the other hand is a very focussed and determined person whose strength and determination are to be admired. Her leadership skills, I'm sure, saved them several times, but it was her desire to learn lessons from Lord Of The Flies that I loved the most about her: it's a book I remember reading on holiday before we studied it in school (thankfully, I had no need to use it as part of my survival!). However, it was Étienne who stole my heart. He is kind and gentle and so very determined to just be himself and I adored that about him. His love of nature and his determination to continue to be a Climate Avenger was admirable but it was his constant naming of animals they encountered that really made me smile! Giuseppe was a joy to get to know and Tarquin was gorgeous (just please don't tell him I thought of him as I ate my turtle shaped emergency sweets!).
With coconut trees causing friction burns and jellyfish stinging bottoms, Shipwrecked is a hilarious set of instructions on what to do if you ever end up Shipwrecked. With each chapter named as a survival tip, the book is guaranteed to make sure you have everything you could possibly need to survive Sunrise Island. Add in baby turtles, pirates and and the world's greatest goat, and you have a recipe for the perfect summer read.
My proof copy doesn't have the illustrations yet but I'm desperate to see what they will be, especially knowing where they will be positioned (coconut trees versus bottoms and post-jellyfish recovery both spring to mind!).
Publishing on the 4th July, Shipwrecked is an utter joy of a read. Full of laughs and mishaps, it's a story that will fill your heart with joy and even make you shed a tear (Jenny is very good at making me laugh and cry simultaneously!) and absolutely needs to be pre-ordered.
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