Shipwrecked on Padre Island

Book by Marvin, Isabel R.

Grade 5-7-- A gold bracelet is the link between the two halves of this historical adventure. In 1554, 13-year-old Catalina is heartbroken when family circumstances force her father to return to Spain to take over the family business. Catalina has lived her whole life in New Spain (Mexico) and dreads both the long, dangerous voyage and the adjustment to a new world. Her fears are realized when a sudden storm causes them to be marooned on an island off the sourthern coast of Texas. In the excitement of the arrival of other survivors and another storm, Catalina loses her treasured bracelet, an inheritance from her dead mother. More than 400 years later, during yet another storm, the bracelet is found by Jilliane, also 13, who is staying on the island with her family. Piecing together what is known of the shipwrecks of 1554 and the fate of the survivors and adding the imaginary Catalina and her father, Marvin has created an interesting story. Characterization takes a back seat to plot, as the principals are introduced and the action begins. There are enough details of Catalina's island stay and enough excitement in the 20th-century storm to hold readers' attention, however. Not a survival classic like Scott O'Dell's Island of the Blue Dolphins (Houghton, 1960), this will still satisfy most readers, and the interest that many children have in shipwrecks should give it more than a local audience. --Elaine Fort Weischedel, Turner Free Library, Randolph, MA
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.