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Book Review By Daniel Staebler
Adrift in the Pacific: Two Years Holiday by Jules Verne

At the end of the school year, fifteen young students, from eight to fourteen years old, embark on the "Sloughi", a boat that should lead them to their families dispersed on the coasts of New Zealand. Unfortunately, while the sailors are celebrating their last free evening in the local pubs, the "Sloughi" loses its anchor and heads to the open sea in the middle of the night. In the morning, a violent storm prevents the children from saiingl back to the harbour. A few days later, the "Sloughi" grounds on a deserted island in the Pacific ocean.

During 20 months, the fifteen children will be left alone and will have to get organized in order to survive. As the island, baptized "Chairman island" by the boys, abounds with drinking water and wildfowls, they manage to store up food for the cold winter that will be soon there. The French born Briant, the British Doniphan and the American born Gordon lead the group of children who discover that a sailor has lived and died on the island 20 years before. One day, Doniphan, while exploring a remote part of the island, finds a rawboat on the beach. It seems that strangers, also brought to "Chairman island" by a storm, have just disembarked.


Plot & Themes
Tone of story - very upbeat
Time/era of story:
Exploring into the wild Yes
Plotlets: - stranded - shipwreck
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
descript. of violence and chases - 10 %
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30 %
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 30 %
Terrain - Water

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status:
Age: - a teen
Ethnicity/Race

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Profession/status:
How sensitive is this character?

Setting
Asia/Pacific Yes
Asian country: - Australia
Water? Yes
Water: - peddle boat - lost at sea
Island? Yes
Island: - food/shelter preoccupation - stranded - Pacific Island

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
Unusual forms of death - perforation--bullets
Unusual form of death? Yes
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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