ALA Booklist (Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 CDT 2016)

Frances has done a very bad thing, but she gets an opportunity to participate in TeamSkill's newest venture nding teens to a remote village to do community service in exchange for a clean slate. When her plane goes down in the middle of the Indian Ocean and she's stranded, Frances soon wishes she paid more attention to the survival skills courses. Armed with a plastic raft, she somehow floats to an unmanned island. Alone, Frances has all the time in the world to think of her past mistakes, while she attempts to survive. Life becomes a bit easier when she discovers the pilot's dog on the island and sees smoke signals coming from the other side. Are there more survivors? Written in short chapters with flashbacks describing how Frances turned into a "monster," readers will dislike Frances at first but grow to love her as she discovers who she is and learns from her mistakes. If she makes it home, she'll be forever changed for the better. Recommend this one to teens who enjoy survival stories.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Levez-s debut captures the emotional journey of 16-year-old Frances Stanton, one of a plane full of British juvenile delinquents and camp staffers headed to a skills-based intervention on an Indonesian island. When the plane crashes, Frances reaches a deserted island with few supplies, where she struggles to find food, water, and shelter among sharks and poisonous plants. With a dog as her only companion, Frances faces painful memories of her family back home, including her ill mother, her half-brother, and her mother-s lecherous boyfriend. Through short chapters, Levez effortlessly balances Frances-s past, present, and imagined future, including vivid flashbacks of her home life and acts of retaliation against a well-meaning teacher. After a storm hits, Frances meets another survivor, Rufus, whose prescriptive habits cause friction. Their relationship moves from rocky to companionable, but when food runs low and Rufus lands in a dire situation, Frances must find a way off the island to save her newfound friend. Echoing O-Dell-s Island of the Blue Dolphins, Levez-s story will keep readers riveted as determined, hard-edged Frances fights to survive. Ages 13-up. Agent: Clare Wallace, Darley Anderson Literary. (Sept.)

School Library Journal (Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 CDT 2016)

Gr 8 Up-Frances Stanton's social worker persuades her to go to an overseas team-building program for teens who have committed crimes or face juvenile detention. Stormy weather downs her plane in the Indian Ocean, but Frannie manages to grab onto an inflatable raft equipped with a small emergency kit. Parched by the sun, the British teen eventually washes up on an island but is her own worst enemy as she downs a flask of vodka and lights most of the matches in the emergency kit. Flashbacks reveal a near-homeless existence and a little brother, Johnny, who is totally neglected by their alcoholic mother and her enabling boyfriend. A tenuous relationship with one teacher (whom she thought she could trust with her secrets) falls apart, and Frannie's anger results in a horrible act of retaliation. Somehow her personal demons deliver the grit needed for island survival, and when Virgil, a dog from the ill-fated flight, appears out of nowhere, it signals the presence of another human on the island. Virgil leads Frannie to Rufus, a fair-haired do-gooder with great survival skills, but it is an instant clash of personalities, and the acrimony intensifies before it ebbs. Island habitat details are descriptive and realistic and add depth to the tension-filled plot. A crisis cements Frannie's redemption and metamorphosis from monster to savior, and while readers will root for the characters' survival, the novel ends ambiguously. VERDICT A page-turner for teens, who will be chattering about the open ending and clamoring for more to this story. Vicki Reutter, State University of New York at Cortland