Scar Island by Dan Gemeinhart

• Genre: Adventure Fiction 
• Grade Level: 5th - 8th
• Reading Level: 4.1
• Length: 256 pages (8 hours)
• Publisher: Scholastic  (January 3, 2017)
• My Rating: 4 out of 4
• Division 2

My sister and I are doing something we call the 2017 club.  We are going to try and read at least two books each month that have a 2017 copyright.  I am going to try and choose my books from Junior Library Guild lists, Amazon monthly picks or from mock Newbery lists.  My hope is to have read at least one of the Newbery books when they are announced next winter.  It will also allow me to add some great books to the Maud Hart Lovelace consideration list.

Scar Island sounded a little gruesome to me when I read some of the early reviews.  However, Amazon had picked it for a January Best Book and I picked it up from our public library.  It turned out to be a great book full of adventure and great characters.  Jonathan Grisby arrives at the Slabhenge Reformatory School for Trouble Boys by boat on a stormy and rainy evening. It is located on a small island in an ancient lighthouse and fortress. Rats, crumbling walls, stench and deplorable conditions along with verbal and physical abuse are the prison conditions he encounters. 16 boys and 8 pirate like wardens live at the school. However, a freak lightning strike kills all of the adults and the boys are left alone. They decide not get help but enjoy time without any adults.  Of course, someone has to become the leader and it seems that life might not be much better under peer control. 

Jonathan has lots of guilt upon his heart as he deals with the reason he  ended up at the island but redemption and transformation through the extreme difficulties he faces on the island are the result. The ending of this book brought lessons and a feeling that despite difficulties in life, there is hope. 

I highly recommend this book. I think boys will like it a lot.