Stranded

The mood in the morning after such a harrowing and suspenseful night shifts back to one of optimism and courage as the children work together to strategize and plan. Jane and Carter, as well as Vanessa and Buzz, feel more hopeful and energized than the night before, despite being hungrier. Jane’s resourcefulness comes into play when she suggests that she and Carter take their chances with the nearby cave to see if it provides a shortcut back to the boat. Because the island is small, the cave isn’t likely to be very deep, but it still proves a formidable challenge for Jane and Carter. Jane has the opportunity to lead, guiding her older brother through the cave using her video camera, demonstrating the courage and strength that she always knew she had but that others rarely recognized and foregrounding the theme of Bravery as a Tool for Survival. Carter, who has always trusted his sister, encourages her to take risks, trust her instincts, and confront challenges with confidence and bravery.

Their excursion through the cave is a journey back to what can only be considered “home” at this point since Vanessa and Buzz are the only other people they can rely on. The group’s reunion is rife with relief and joy, particularly from Buzz and Vanessa, who rightly worried about Carter and Jane’s safety. Their reunion signifies a change in the group dynamic and indicates that they’re one step closer to developing the close bonds of family, supporting the theme of Forging a Blended Family. Further uplifting their mood, Jane calculates an approximate location of the island, which will help rescuers find the children if they can somehow connect to the outside world.

On a deserted island, life is unpredictable and scary at times, and the children can never hang onto a cheerful mood for too long. After a positive morning filled with warmth and feelings of hope and gratitude, the mood takes another downward shift during the night when the tide rises and the boat begins to flood and sway. The story climaxes and ends in a cliffhanger as the children must flee the boat, grabbing what they can, and watch helplessly as it drifts out to sea. In this emotional moment, the loss of the boat symbolizes a loss of various possibilities, including shelter and their connection to the outside world. Because this is the first book in a series, the cliffhanger inspires readers to want to read the next book and to predict how the children will adapt to the new challenge of being without shelter, connection to the world, and most of their supplies. This is arguably their most serious problem yet, and readers can guess how each person’s unique strengths will become necessary in solving this dilemma, alluding to the theme of Using Individual Strengths to Create a Team. The story’s Epilogue is brief but informative: It informs readers that Dex and Joe are alive and searching for the children, which is an example of dramatic irony because readers now know something the characters in the story do not. The fact that Dex and Joe have launched a search for the children and the island adds suspense by emphasizing how difficult that task will likely be. However, as Jane discovered, Dex clearly marked on a map the location of the coral reef where the boat met its demise; therefore, he can likely zero in on the island’s coordinates with some accuracy.