Monday, September 21, 2009

compare and contrast review

Two books, Nation by Terry Pratchett, and The Lost Island of Tamarind by Nadia Aguilar, deal with young people left alone after terrible storms.

In the case of Nation, Mau is the only islander left alive after a tsunami. Gradually, he finds other survivors, including a mysterious outsider girl, Daphne. Together, they struggle to survive, and as they do so discover mysteries about Mau's island that even he had no idea existed.

In Tamarind, Maya, who lives on a boat with her parents and siblings, survives a terrible storm at sea, only to watch her parents be swept overboard. She and her brother, with their baby sister, struggle to survive, and end up on Tamarind, a mysterious island.

Both stories involve tropical islands, survival, mysterious adventures, and stirring characters who struggle with grief, loss, loneliness, fear, and love. Mau and Daphne make decisions that affect both their peoples's future. Maya and Simon, too, find that their very presence changes Tamarind, and they are forced to take sides in a war they don't understand. In one case duty and responsibility win out over personal happiness, while in the other, the adventure has not yet concluded, and the eventual fate of the island is unclear...

Two great adventure stories, each wonderful on its own, make for even better reading together.

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