Cole's+Reading

Reading Task 1 Term 4 2009
Author: Bill O’Brian Publisher: Scholastic Books Number Of Pages: 208 Date Started: 15th November Date Finished: 23rd November Genre: Fiction/Adventure Castaway is a book about a 14 year old boy named Sam Clark who boards a ship called the //Dundonald.// He is boarding because his parents died in a house fire and his older brother in England is the only family he has left. Sam was really finding it hard on the //Dundonald// to get used to all the changes like the watching shift, the food and especially ‘The Doctor’. The living conditions are getting harder for Sam, but he is starting to get used to the sea life. One night Sam goes up on deck to get some fresh air but is amazed by the terrible storm. He doesn’t want to go back under because he thinks he will feel sick from the rocking so he stays up there and waits for his midnight shift. Hours later the captain yells “all hands on deck” everyone helps on the ship while Anderson try’s to steer the ship away from the cliffs. In the end of the struggle the hit the rocks, with 12 dead the rest are castaways, stranded on Disappointment Island. Some of the strengths in this book are that the story line is always changing and keeping you interested in what’s going to happen next. Another Strength is that it is based in real places and based on a real shipwreck of the //Dundonald// with lots of actual facts with real people and real survivors. Another Strength is that is based as a diary not a book and it has real dates and based in 1907. A weakness in this book is that it doesn’t say enough of what’s happening, like it skips a couple of days in the diary and you don’t know what’s happening in the big skip of days. In conclusion I would easily recommend this book to anyone who likes a good sailor’s story or just a good adventure story. It has lots of exciting parts in it and really grabs the reader’s attention of the skills that they use to survive on a barren island for so long and surviving the winter with nothing but their surrounding. In the end I would rate this book a 9/10 it is great for anyone that enjoys a good read. By Cole
 * __ Castaway __**

Reading Task 1 Term 3 2009
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