Stranded

“A hard turn like this just brings you closer together. And let’s face it, isn’t that exactly what your parents wanted you kids to get out of this trip?”

Dex is unaware of just how much of a “hard turn” lies ahead, believing the storm is just a hiccup in the path of a wonderful and successful sailing trip. His statement is ironic and foreshadows the storm’s growing fury: The children are about to get more out of this trip than any of them expected or bargained for, and the theme of Forging a Blended Family becomes only part of the adventure.

“Whatever was next, Vanessa didn’t hear it. It was swallowed up by a brilliant flash of lightning and a crash of thunder too overwhelming to be anywhere but right on top of them.”

The story’s action-packed sequences are highly tense and suspenseful, particularly during the height of the storm. Its intense strength is clear by how it moves the boat, drowns out everything around it, and instills fear and panic in everyone on board.

“Buzz’s heart was racing as fast as the wind that whipped past him. There wasn’t even time to think.”

This quote compares the speed of Buzz’s heart to the rapid winds of the storm, creating a parallel between his internal panic and the danger of the situation. Time moves rapidly in the face of danger, and Buzz’s usual style of taking time to think things through won’t help him in such a demanding and constantly changing situation.

“Before Carter could try to get to him, Dex slammed into the railing, flipped over it, and was dragged all the way overboard by the force.”

In perhaps the scariest moment of the story, Dex is ripped off the boat and into the water, leaving the children alone and drifting aimlessly at sea on a sinking sailboat. One moment, everything is going according to plan and it appears as though the entire group will make it into the life raft together; however, the story suddenly twists and turns in a different direction, and the children are suddenly alone in desperate circumstances.

“Now the four kids were alone on the sinking boat, left to fend for themselves against the storm.”

With no way of knowing where they’ll end up or if they’ll even survive, the four children are thrust into a new unknown, without any adults to guide them. They quickly learn that Using Individual Strengths to Create a Team is a much more effective survival strategy than disagreeing, and the “storm” they must battle exists both outside and within themselves.

“Jane wedged her foot against the opposite wall of the stairwell and squeezed her eyes shut, unable to move or even to yell out. It was like the voice inside her head was trapped there, even as her mouth opened and closed.”

The panic Jane feels is evident: She’s frozen in place and unable to call out for help. Shock and fear envelop her as she huddles alone in the stairwell, waiting to see where the ship will end up.

“But he was alive, anyway. They all were. The whole crash seemed like some kind of bad dream now.”

Everything about their lives starts to fall into perspective when the four children are shipwrecked and must put aside their differences to prioritize their survival. While everyone survives the wreck, they’re still in shock from realizing how close they came to losing their lives and not knowing the fate of the adults who were keeping them safe but were torn away from them.

“All Vanessa could hear now was the wind outside, and the sound of waves breaking softly in the distance.”

After the radio signal disconnects Vanessa’s call to her dad, a painful and heavy silence falls over the children as they all realize that their only method of connecting to the outside world is gone. Now, they must become more resourceful and rely on Bravery as a Tool for Survival while they hope for rescue and explore methods to signal their location.

“From here, the Lucky Star looked like a broken toy sitting on a stone shelf. The sight of it brought memories of the crash flooding back into her mind, and she couldn’t help the tears that started down her cheeks.”

The sailboat begins as a symbol of adventure and coming together as a new family, connecting to the theme of Forging a Blended Family, but this atmosphere of positivity quickly gives way to sorrow and feelings of loss and anxiety. Neither Jane nor the other children know what will happen or how long they’ll be on the island, and in this moment, the ship looks as broken as Jane’s own emotional state.

“Their mother always said he was part beagle, the way he liked to be at the front of the pack, no matter what he was doing.”

In a rare moment in which Jane allows herself to think of her family, she remembers how her mother used to joke about Carter’s natural desire to lead the group. Carter’s leadership abilities become a crucial skill for surviving the island and enable him to act as a model of strength and courage while also guiding the group to success.

“What was in front of him now was a deep ravine that seemed to split the island’s cliffs right in half. All he saw way down at the bottom was a jumble of brush and more rocks.”

The group encounters another challenge, this time in the form of conquering a fear of heights and risking the possibility of falling down the cliff to certain injury and possible death. The island presents many unpredictable dangers, and each experience forces the children to find and use their strengths and draw on their inner courage to accomplish goals together, connecting to the themes of Using Individual Strengths to Create a Team and Bravery as a Tool for Survival.

“In a weird way, the whole thing had gone by quickly, like a fast nightmare.”

Buzz surprises himself and the others by successfully crawling across the log and managing his fears along the way. In overcoming his anxiety and acting with bravery, Buzz becomes more willing to leave his comfort zone and even demonstrate leadership qualities that are hidden below the surface.

“When nobody answered, it was like something breaking into a million pieces. She hadn’t realized how much she’d been counting on finding them until it became clear that it wasn’t going to happen. Now it seemed like she’d been fooling herself all along.”

Vanessa tries to fix the radio but gets no reply. The harsh realization that they’re truly alone and isolated on the island, with only nature surrounding them, leaves her feeling melancholy and uninspired. Like the others, she experiences moments of vulnerability and understandably fears the worst.

“It felt good, but also kind of weird, to see everyone doing exactly what he told them to do. Buzz wasn’t usually the boss of anything in their family, especially not with Vanessa and Carter around.”

Buzz takes the leadership position in guiding the group to build a signal fire, drawing on the knowledge he gained from video games and television, which illustrates the theme of Using Individual Strengths to Create a Team. Vanessa and Carter, who are both natural leaders, usually overshadow Buzz, so he’s grateful for a chance to lead the group for once.

“He never cared about juice boxes before, but he would have traded his BMX bike for just one of them right now.”

The sense of desperation as Carter and the others become dehydrated is clear in how much of a difference just one juice box would make. Carter’s priorities have all shifted toward one goal, which is to survive and get rescued so that he and the others can go home.

“There were no adults here to help, and someone had to take charge. There was so much they needed to do.”

Both Carter and Vanessa possess natural leadership abilities, and while neither of them feels quite old enough to be a true leader, the unique situation they find themselves in is the perfect opportunity to test their skills. Carter is particularly eager to guide the group and assert himself as a knowledgeable and strong leader.

“In fact, she realized, they both wanted the same things, anyway: water, rescue, and a little time apart from one another.”

Everyone but Carter thinks splitting up is a horrible idea, but his strong personality and stubbornness usually allow him to win arguments. Reflecting the theme of Forging a Blended Family, Vanessa concedes because she knows that the difficulties inherent in merging the two families create tension and competition, and she figures that time away from each other will relieve some of the conflict that is arising out of irritation and feelings of powerlessness.

“A long shot was way better than no shot at all.”

Many of the risks that the children take along their journey have a slim chance of working out, but their optimism and hope propels them through one success after another. Vanessa makes an earnest attempt to fix the solar panel even though it likely won’t work because striving toward a goal is better than simply sitting around and waiting for something to happen.

“Just when it seemed as if his lungs were going to pop in his chest, Carter broke through, hacking up water and sucking down air practically at the same time.”

During a moment of sheer terror and adrenaline, the river’s current sweeps Carter into the lagoon, nearly drowning him. Jane jumps in, and they eventually reach the shore together. Carter is impulsive and follows his instincts, but he’s only 11, and his instincts aren’t always correct. Though he always acts sure of himself, Carter is inexperienced in survival and relies largely on courage to get by, illustrating the theme of Bravery as a Tool for Survival.

“The reality of it settled over him like a dark cloud. All day long, he’d been thinking about rescue. Hoping for it. Relying on it. Now it was starting to look like they might be stuck here for a lot longer than he’d imagined.”

It occurs to Buzz that the situation could be a lot more dire and difficult than he originally expected. Hope and the prospect of a quick rescue were his motivators, and now that those possibilities are almost definitely gone, he adjusts his mental framework to suit this new reality.

“Vanessa nearly cried when the rain first started. It came after hours of walking the shore of Nowhere Island, looking for some sign of Carter and Jane.”

Rain begins to fall, bringing the children relief from conflict, pessimism, and dehydration. Symbolically, the rain washes away the challenges and losses of the previous 24 hours and signifies a better chance of survival.

“The falls themselves spilled out of a cave opening, about ten feet off the ground. The water flowed over a jumble of rocks and into a small pool, which fed into the lagoon.”

The imagery in the scene where Carter and Jane stand at the base of the waterfall is one of the story’s most beautiful and awe-inspiring moments. Surrounded by sand and a wide lagoon, the two siblings forge their way up the cliff and into the mysterious cave, taking another chance and trusting in Jane’s instincts that the cave may provide a way back to the beach.

“It was just starting to rain again, and Jane could hear thunder rumbling in the distance. It looked like the weather was going to get worse before it got better, but she didn’t even care. At least they were inside the boat this time.”

This passage foreshadows that the weather will get worse before improving, which refers not only to the weather in a literal sense but also to the conditions of survival and the challenges that the group faces. Because the sea soon takes their ship away, they’ll be without shelter and most of their supplies; at this moment, however, they’re unaware of just how dire their circumstances will become.