Although the children’s ages are unspecified, the eldest islander is on the cusp of adolescence, beginning to yearn for more than the small island can provide, even while dreading to leave the comfort and stability it provides.

Through the precocious Jinny, Snyder ( Seven Stories Up) delivers a contemplative commentary on the transition from childhood to adolescence, and from ignorance to awareness.

As Jinny teaches Ess to contribute and uphold the cryptic rules that promise chaos if broken, she begins to question the unexplained dictates, opting to take charge of her actions and destiny. It’s Jinny’s responsibility, as the elder, to care for the newly arrived Ess, despite the fact that Jinny is heartbroken over losing the previous elder, Deen, her best friend. New children are delivered to the island by a mysterious boat, and whenever one arrives, the eldest on the island takes the arrival’s place aboard the vessel to leave the only home he or she has ever known, with no knowledge of what the future holds. Anyone who has ever been scared of leaving their family will love this book' (from the review, which named Orphan Island a best book of 2017).Jinny is the oldest of nine orphans living on an idyllic island. 'A unique and compelling story about nine children who live with no adults on a mysterious island. Jinny knows her responsibility now-to teach Ess everything she needs to know about the island, to keep things as they've always been.īut will she be ready for the inevitable day when the boat will come back-and take her away forever from the only home she's known? The boat arrives, taking away Jinny's best friend, Deen, replacing him with a new little girl named Ess, and leaving Jinny as the new Elder. The sun rises in a sky filled with dancing shapes the wind, water, and trees shelter and protect those who live there when the nine children go to sleep in their cabins, it is with full stomachs and joy in their hearts.Īnd only one thing ever changes: on that day, each year, when a boat appears from the mist upon the ocean carrying one young child to join them-and taking the eldest one away, never to be seen again.

In the tradition of modern-day classics like Sara Pennypacker's Pax and Lois Lowry's The Giver comes a deep, compelling, heartbreaking, and completely one-of-a-kind novel about nine children who live on a mysterious island.

Thought-provoking and magical.' -Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson series 'This is one of those books that haunts you long after you read it. 'A wondrous book, wise and wild and deeply true.' -Kelly Barnhill, Newbery Medal-winning author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon

Orphan island by laurel snyder