I received a sample for this review/feature. Opinions expressed are my own.
I always enjoy finding a new book trilogy whether it is for children or adults. I especially love series books because I never want the story to end! The Vanishing Island by Barry Wolverton is for ages 8 to 12 and is volume 1 in a trilogy set. It is a little old for my 6 year old so I read through it on my own and I couldn’t put it down!
Does the Vanishing Island really exist? And if so, what treasure?or terrible secret?was hidden by its disappearance?
It’s 1599, the Age of Discovery in Europe. But for Bren Owen, growing up in the small town of Map on the coast of Britannia has meant anything but adventure. Enticed by the tales sailors have brought through Map’s port, and inspired by the arcane maps his father creates as a cartographer for the cruel and charismatic map mogul named Rand McNally, Bren is convinced that fame and fortune await him elsewhere. That is, until his repeated attempts to run away land him a punishment worse than death?cleaning up the town vomitorium.
It is there that Bren meets a dying sailor, who gives him a strange gift that hides a hidden message. Cracking the code could lead Bren to a fabled lost treasure that could change his life forever, and that of his widowed father. But to get there he will have to tie his fate to a mysterious Dutch admiral obsessed with a Chinese legend about an island that long ago disappeared from any map.
Before long, Bren is in greater danger than he ever imagined, and he will need the help of an unusual friend named Mouse to survive. Barry Wolverton’s thrilling adventure spans oceans and cultures, brings together the folklore of East and West, and proves that fortune is always a double-edged sword.
The book is fast paced with never a dull moment. Bren is the son of a talented mapmaker but his life is poor as his father works for, McNally, the sly and rich owner of the map shop. Living in the city of Map is nothing like the adventures Bren reads in books. Bren has the keen sense of detail just like his father and he can draw anything after seeing something just once. After multiple attempts to stow aboard a ship he is finally forced to work in McNally’s vomitorium as punishment. One day as he is mopping the floors a dying sailor gives him a small token. This token is supposedly a map to a treasure on a lost island. Bren uses it to barter passage on a ship but he soon learns sea life is not what he expected.
I do want to note this book does have a fair amount of drinking involved…to be expected with any book about sailors. I only mention it because some children might not understand the context.
You can also get this book as an ebook for you digital readers. So far it is a great series that I will definitely have to read through once they are all released. An adventure story unlike any other and one where I felt I was right alongside Bren as it unfolded.
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