Orphan Island

By: Laurel Snyder

Narrated by: Kim Mai Guest

A National Book Award Longlist title!

"A wondrous book, wise and wild and deeply true." —Kelly Barnhill, Newbery Medal-winning author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon

"This is one of those books that haunts you long after you read it. Thought-provoking and magical." —Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson series

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.

On the island, everything is perfect. 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.

And 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.

Today’s Changing is no different. 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. Jinny knows her responsibility now—to teach Ess everything she needs to know about the island, to keep things as they’ve always been.

But 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?

"A unique and compelling story about nine children who live with no adults on a mysterious island. Anyone who has ever been scared of leaving their family will love this book" (from the Brightly.com review, which named Orphan Island a best book of 2017).

©2017 Laurel Snyder (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

Too slow, no resolution. Ran out of gas.

As many of the reviewers have already said there are too many unanswered questions.
About halfway through the book we were teased with the idea of finding out more about the island, but nothing ever emerged.
The first seven hours of the book were slow paced with nothing concrete ever happening, and the last forty-five minutes felt like an unmotivated writer trying to finish the story with whatever ending she could grab.
I can see the writer staring at her screen trying desperately to think of something, ANYTHING, that could address the mystery of the island, and to salvage some kind of ending, before throwing up her arms in frustration and saying, "screw it, good enough, I'm done".
You have been warned.

AMAZING READER!

The Narrarator was awesome 👌 Awesome story too! OverallI think it was a bit boring but super fun

Not my style

I thought the characters were well developed but there were too many unanswered questions for my taste.

A Story About Letting Go

Theres so much to say about this book but I cant find the right words to describe how I feel.

Read it and you will understand.

Too many unanswered questions

Overall my 10 yr old daughter thought the story was pretty good. The main character sometimes made her mad, and she found the ending frustrating because there were so many unanswered questions. But the story itself was very interesting and engaging. If the ending had been wrapped up better, she said she would have given it 5 stars

Intriguing but slow

Very thought provoking, interesting book. Beautifully written, well read by narrator. But we found it slow at the end. The protagonist became very tiresome.

Awesome story

We hope that this story will have a part two!! Such a great story. My daughters 9 and 10 loved it!

Summer Reading | Orphan Island

This was a "summer reading" choice for my 11 y.o. daughter. Comparisons to Peter Pan, and even a smidge of The Hunger Games ring true here. We're never made certain of the exact setting, or even time in which the story is set. On an island populated solely by children, what happens when one chooses not to follow the rules? Interesting enough to follow Snyder's other work...very emotionally read (if at times a tiny bit too "young") by Kim Mai Guest.

It got tedious

I liked it ok. The story moved so slowly and the ending was not satisfying. Too much inner dialogue IMO.

Sequel in the works?

I am pretty sure this is one of the silliest, directionless books I have read. Nothing tied together and I can only guess that a sequel will tie it all together?? However, there was so little in this story to make me wonder, that it doesn’t matter.