Scar Island

Originally published in 2017, Scar Island is a children’s adventure and action novel about a group of troubled boys who are left unsupervised at a crumbling reformatory school on a remote island. The book is geared to ages 8 to 12, but the novel’s suspense, plot twists, and social themes also appeal to young adults and others. Scar Island is a dark tale, with a happy ending that includes a message about redemption. The middle-grade novel is an Amazon Teachers’ Pick book.

Scar Island includes a character who speaks with a lisp, and clarification is added in this guide for comprehension support. Author Dan Gemeinhart is a former elementary school teacher and librarian. He has written several other books for young readers, including The Honest Truth and Good Dog.

This study guide references the 2017 Scholastic Press edition.

Plot Summary

At the beginning of Scar Island, 12-year-old Jonathan Grisby sits aboard a boat headed for Slabhenge Reformatory School for Troubled Boys. The boat’s salty old pilot describes what a dreary place Slabhenge is. He tells Jonathan that it was once a psychiatric hospital for the “criminally insane” and now houses juvenile delinquents.

After he arrives at the school, the Admiral orders him to kneel on a wooden contraption with a sharp edge that the Admiral calls the Sinner’s Sorrow. He orders Jonathan to write a letter home and is only satisfied after his seventh attempt. When Jonathan asks about dinner, the Admiral says he does not deserve any food after wasting so much paper writing a letter. He sends him to the sleeping quarters with no dinner and no pillow.

On the way to the sleeping area, Jonathan passes a roped-off staircase with a door at the bottom of it. He hears a growling sound coming from the door. The Admiral’s assistant, Mr. Warwick, brings him to a narrow, windowless cell with a thin mattress and a bucket for a toilet. Jonathan asks the boy in the cell next to him if he has any food. Mr. Mongley, one of the Admiral’s men, hears Jonathan whispering and throws a bucket of water on him.

The next morning during breakfast preparations, Jonathan meets Colin Kerrigan, who talks with a lisp and is a self-proclaimed “kleptomaniac.” As he prepares the meal with the other boys, he soon learns that the food is for the Admiral and the other adults who run the school. The boys are fed only oatmeal for breakfast and must serve the adults and clean up before they can eat.

Later that morning, the weather is cloudy and rainy as the boys gather in the courtyard for muster. They stand on stone blocks while the admiral gives a ranting speech, describing the boys as “scabs” on society and justifying his harsh disciplinary approach as necessary to straighten them out. As he speaks, the Admiral waves a sword in the air to add a flourish to his words. A bolt of lightning strikes the sword, snakes down, and electrifies the puddle where the Admiral and his seven men are standing. They are all electrocuted.

After realizing the adults have been killed, the boys are excited at the chance to be able to go home once the mail delivery boat arrives. As they see the boat on the horizon, Jonathan proposes that the boys stay on the island by themselves. He finds an ally in Sebastian Mortimer, who supports Jonathan’s idea. Jonathan then devises a plan to fool the pilot of the mail delivery boat with one of the boys standing in the shadows disguised in Mr. Vander’s coat and hat while the rest unload the mail. Jonathan and Sebastian also direct the boys to hide the adult bodies in the freezer.

Soon, Sebastian declares himself the leader, and when Colin suggests an election, Sebastian shoots down the idea. Sebastian then gives a speech where he declares that there will be no rules. He says the boys are not scabs, but scars, which he notes are tough. He declares the whole island now belongs to the boys and dubs it Scar Island.

Jonathan decides to explore the roped-off staircase that leads to the Hatch. After he gets lost, he wanders through the building’s dark, maze-like corridors, and discovers the library and the librarian. The librarian says no one should leave a library without a book, and he gives Jonathan a copy of Robinson Crusoe. Jonathan does not tell the librarian about the dead adults, and he decides to keep the librarian’s presence a secret from the other boys. Some of the other boys see the book and are curious about it. That night, they ask Jonathan to read the book aloud to them and a reading group forms.

Jonathan points out that the boys will need to have letters to give to the mail boat to avoid suspicion. Sebastian agrees that the boys should continue writing letters home. After reading Jonathan’s letter to his parents, Benny (Sebastian’s henchman) tells him that he knows the reason Jonathan was sent to Slabhenge. He says he saw Jonathan’s file in the Admiral’s office. Benny threatens to reveal Jonathan’s secret if he does not do what Benny and Sebastian tell him to do.

Sebastian sits in the Admiral’s chair, eats his chocolates, and brandishes the Admiral’s sword. When he catches one of the boys taking chocolates from the Admiral’s room, he orders him to kneel on the Sinner’s Sorrow. Colin objects to the punishment, noting that they never voted on it.

Jonathan returns to the library. He asks the librarian about the Hatch and the noise coming from it. The librarian explains that the Hatch is a door that is holding back the sea. He says that the sea is rising, the island is sinking, or both. The librarian gives Jonathan a copy of Treasure Island before he leaves.

Jason, a boy who was sent to the reformatory for stealing cars, is caught writing a secret message on the back of an envelope that reveals the boys’ situation and asks his parents to send help. Sebastian sentences him to 20 minutes on the Sinner’s Sorrow. Outraged by Sebastian’s punishments, Colin takes an ax and destroys the sinner’s sorrow. He then flees into the bowels of the building and goes into hiding.

As a storm develops and starts to grow in intensity, Jonathan visits the librarian again and asks him about the lighthouse. The librarian tells him it is located above the Admiral’s office but has not been used in years. The librarian gives Jonathan a copy of Lord of the Flies. When Jonathan returns from the library, Sebastian accuses him of collaborating with Colin. Benny says Jonathan cannot be trusted because Jonathan started a fire that killed his sister Sophia. Jonathan only says that he loved his sister very much. Sebastian is disgusted by the revelations about Jonathan and calls him a “freak.” The other boys shun him as well.

Jonathan goes to look for Colin and finds him hiding in one of the building’s towers. He tells Colin that Benny accused him of killing his sister and Colin asks Jonathan what really happened. Jonathan explains that he used to have a fascination with fire and would start small fires just to see the flames grow. His sister Sophia took his matches, worried that he would get in trouble. Then, one night a fire broke out in his house. He tried to save his sister, but the fire was too hot. Colin says it was an accident, but Jonathan blames himself for his sister’s death.

As the storm worsens, Jonathan returns from visiting Colin. Sebastian demands to know where Colin went. Jonathan refuses to tell him, and Sebastian banishes him. Jonathan goes back to Colin’s hiding place, but they discover that Sebastian and his boys followed him. Sebastian punches Jonathan in the face when he enters the room and orders Colin to be held down. Just then, they see a figure in the doorway. Patrick, the mail deliverer, has come to warn them about the storm. Patrick tells them that the storm is a category five hurricane, and that the storm surge could swallow the school and the island.

Sebastian ignores the warnings and orders Patrick to be tied up and taken to the boiler room. For Colin’s punishment, Sebastian orders that he be tied up for one night in a room in a remote part of the building and sprinkles cracker crumbs and cheese on his body to attract rats. When the boys return to the dining room, they discover it is flooded. The storm is now blowing out windows and breaching walls. They hear a loud crash, and Jonathan realizes that the Hatch has blown open. Jonathan insists that they must rescue Colin. Sebastian agrees to give Jonathan a lantern and sends two boys to release Patrick.

After swimming in the darkness through the already-flooded lower levels of the school, Jonathan manages to untie Colin. Jonathan then decides he must warn the librarian about the storm. When he arrives at the library, The librarian tells Jonathan he must take the boys to the lighthouse, which he says will be the only building that will survive the storm because it was built on the original rock and not on sand. Jonathan pleas with the librarian to go with them, but the librarian says he has never left the island and wishes to die there.

Jonathan returns to the dining room and tells Sebastian and the other boys that they must seek refuge in the lighthouse. Sebastian is skeptical, and Benny tells him that Jonathan still cannot be trusted because of his past. At Colin’s urging, a tearful Jonathan finally says he did not start the fire that night, but he still blames himself because his sister used his matches and learned to play with fire from him. He realizes he was a bad influence on his sister, but he is a repentant arsonist, not a murderer.

After hearing the full story, Jonathan regains the boys’ respect, and they head to the lighthouse. They realize that they need fuel to light the fire for the lighthouse. Jonathan takes the key to the Admiral’s office, which he has been hiding in his pocket, and unlocks the door. They find their juvenile crime files and burn them to light the lighthouse. Sebastian reveals that the reason he never wrote a letter home was that he was an orphan who grew up in orphanages and group homes. The other boys forgive his bullying after hearing his story. In the last scene, he and Sebastian work together to crank the lighthouse so that it signals the outside world to rescue them.