Surprise Island (Boxcar Children Graphic Novels Series #2) Book

The Boxcar Children have a home with their grandfather now-but their adventures are just beginning! Their first adventure is to spend the summer camping on their own private island. The island is full of surprises, including a kind stranger with a secret.

Children's Literature

In this graphic novelization of the "Boxcar Children" novel of the same name, the Alden kids spend the summer on their own private island. There they meet the mysterious Joe, who is the island caretaker but seems to have secrets he is not yet willing to share. The Aldens spend their summer creating a museum and exploring the island, discovering Indian relics, and enjoying island life. A strange man comes to visit and the kids learn that their friend, Joe, is really the former director of the Alden museum and is their long-lost cousin. He was injured and lost his memory, but the summer with the children has helped him heal. The end of the book finds the Alden children heading back to school, their cousin Joe back at his old job as the head of the Alden museum, and a team of archaeologists planning to excavate the Indian artifacts on the island they have renamed, "Surprise Island." The concept of a graphic novel depiction of such a beloved and time-tested series was a good one; unfortunately, the results of this effort are less than desirable. Whether due to page-count constraints or just bad editing, the storyline of this book borders on incomprehensible. Characters appear and disappear with little or no introduction or explanation, the plot is incoherent, and the illustrations are poorly rendered. The only use this graphic novel might serve is as a supplement for lower-level readers who may have a difficult time understanding the plot of the full-length novel. It should not be a substitute, however. Reviewer: Lauri Berkenkamp