Shipwrecked! [Kindle Edition]

A salty tale loaded with adventure, Alexandra Pratt's "Shipwrecked!" is an exciting read for younger kids. The chapters are just long enough to hold a young reader's attention, and the book's language is elegant while still being simple and easy-to-read. In addition to encouraging young readers, "Shipwrecked!" provides a good introduction to historical events in mid-18th century Europe, hopefully one that will prompt kids to want to learn more.

Isaac Morris is ready to live a life full of adventure, and what a great opportunity it is when he hears that Britain has declared war on Spain. He soon finds himself aboard one of the six warships, heading for South America. Yet the sea is an unpredictable phenomena and Isaac's ship is thrown deep into a storm. When mutiny and murder arises, the storm is the least of their worries!

Shipwrecked contains a voice! By that I mean you don't read a story, you are told a story. When I was reading, it felt like my father was telling me his own journey. This very exciting way of storytelling was accomplished through show don't tell. Alexandra could easily manipulate her sentences into an action packed journey really well!

How many times have you read a book and the history and details of the past bored you so much you had to put the book down? I know that I got caught by that trap and I just couldn't finish the book. For a 32 page novella, I think that Alexandra did a wonderful job to obtain and squeeze in that history into her book. I liked how she made it work with the flow of the novel and was able to sort of give it to us without disturbing the peace of the action!

As I said before, it's extremely difficult to insert what a good book "needs" when it contains only 32 pages. As a reader I would of enjoyed knowing the characters on a deeper principal. I had a rough time trying to figure out what was happening inside their heads and in general I just wanted to connect more with the characters. For example: there were so many of them who didn't make it back home alive. Even with those events I didn't feel sad for them or thrilled for the ones who did come back home. Of course this problem may revolve around the number of characters.

I had the same problem with description. The book contained description, yet not as in depth as I am accustomed too or would of liked. Now these problems all have to do with the length of the book. Maybe the author wanted to keep it short. Maybe she wanted to focus on the story at hand and not the useless details I enjoy. Who knows right? Whatever the reasons are, the novella was enjoyable, action packed and straight to it's point. Even without the description and characterisation it had what it takes to become a very enjoyable read.