Author: Carol Ryrie Brink
Recommended Age: 8-11
Genre: Adventure
Date Published: 1937
Summary: When their lifeboat is accidentally cast off the ship, Mary and Jean Wallace are stranded on a tropical island with four babies and no adults. In a Robinson-Crusoe-like fashion, the girls forage for food, survive tides and stranding, yet discover that they may not be the only people on the island. But is their mysterious neighbor a friend or a foe?
Notes from The Radical Reader:
- Noble Characters: The Wallace girls have been some of my favorite literary characters for years. When shipwrecked with four babies (a little girl’s dream), these two sisters survive days on a lifeboat, create a home in the jungle, and eventually befriend the only person living on their island. Mary and Jean are amazing literary examples of courage, perseverance, and joy amidst trials.
- Captivating Plots: Imagine if you were stranded at sea with four babies. When Mary and Jean’s lifeboat is accidentally cast off from the ship holding only them and four babies, they’re stranded on the ocean with a tropical island ahead of them and a sinking ship behind them. And when they find footprints on the sand of their deserted beach, the girls realize that they may not be the only ones who live on this island. Can they survive long enough to reunite the babies with their parents?
- Elaborate Worlds: Set in the early 1900s, it was a normal September night aboard a ship crossing the Pacific from San Francisco to Australia when the ship was struck with a tropical storm and orders came to evacuate. From that moment on, Mary and Jean Wallace became the sole protectors of four babies aboard a single lifeboat floating toward a desolate, tropical island.
Noteworthy Elements:
- Violence: Mary warns Jean not to go snooping in Mr. Peterkin’s chests by saying, “I just thought maybe you ought to know about Pandora”. Jean then asks about Bluebeard’s wife and Mary responds, “Yes, Bluebeard definitely told her not to look, and she went and did. It served her right to find all this ladies hanging by their hair”.
- Profanity: Jean uses the word “darn” one time to which the author replies, “Mary was still so much excited that she forgot to remind Jean that she should never say ‘darn’”. Jean and Mr. Peterkin use a variety of “pirate lingo” including “murder” used one time as an exclamation, “shades of Mrs. Snodgrass!” one time, “bly’me” one time, “strike me pink” two times, “blow me down” four times, and “shucks” one time.
- Spiritual: Alone on the island, Mary preaches a Sunday sermon to Jean and Mr. Peterkin.
- Other: While retelling the fanciful story of how he lost one of his toes, Mr. Peterkin adds Pygmies into the telling.
