Book Review: Nim's Island
Rated by 1 member
What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that that there is little to be
concerned about here, other than the premise of the story,
which is that a father leaves his young daughter alone on a
deserted island for several days.
Families can talk about what's real and what's not in the story. Could animals behave this way? Could people live this way? Could they still have phone and email on a deserted island in the middle of the ocean? Could a child survive alone? Would you have done anything different in Nim's situation?
Common Sense Media Review
Take a spunky heroine competently surviving on her own on a
deserted island (the ultimate kid fantasy). Add in animal
friends who seem to understand, the vaguest of villains
hovering in the background and easily overcome, a smattering of
scientific information effortlessly absorbed, and a very
satisfying conclusion. Then write it in breezy style, making
the various pieces of the story fit together in a nicely
coincidental, jigsaw-puzzle way. All together it makes for one
delightful story.
As with other island survival tales, kids will want to be Nim, and her story will stimulate readers' fantasy lives. Unlike most of those other stories, it adds in touches of fantasy and humor to keep the gritty and sometimes scary reality of survival at a distance. In that way it's more similar to the non-island survival story, My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George. Most of the fantasy comes from the animals which, while still real animals, are usually intelligent and helpful, and are anthropomorphized just enough to turn them into characters. This understated, easy-to-read tale, written with a light and loving touch, is a near-perfect middle-grade novel.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
