From Publishers Weekly
Townsend admirably attempts to portray the seriousness of a boy's emotional problems, creating a real world with a compelling voice at its center. Rob, 11, is lonely and confused, and turns to an imaginary tropical island for solace after a series of changeshis parents' divorce, his mother's remarriage and new baby, his best friend's moveleaves him friendless for the summer. At first the island, peopled by Rob's favorite literary characters and starring himself, lives up to its name, Paradise Island. As visits by Rob's father decrease and as Rob feels more pressure from his mother and stepfather to adapt, the island assumes aspects closer to its second name, Perilous, and the literary characters become more familiar, and more real. Just when it seems that Rob has a new friend and his father might be settling into a new life, the island takes over, with frightening results. After such a complicated and remarkable set-up, it is hard to believe that Rob's problems with reality are not far more serious than the story's resolution implies. Still this is an imaginative and thought-provoking depiction of a boy's struggle to adjust. Ages 9-13.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 5-8 Everyone is letting Rob down, and the 11 year old is miserable. His dad lives 50 miles away, his new stepfa ther is hard to warm up to, his baby half-sister is keeping everyone awake, and his best friend has moved. But then he discovers Pratt's Island, and it be comes his refuge. The first visit is made physically, and subsequent ones occur through his daydreams. At first the is land fantasies are pleasant diversions from his problems. But then they in creasingly take over his sleeping and waking hours, becoming scenarios where he plays out his frustrations and his fears. Townsend portrays the family turmoil and Rob's slips between fanta sy and reality well. The island scenes are especially vivid. However, when the daughter of his father's friend talks Rob through one last fantasy visit to exorcise the painful visions raised by a real trip to the island, Townsend gives her a maturity and skill that would be the envy of professional psychologists. Still, the portrayal of one boy's attempt to cope with the turmoil of divorce by trying to escape it and the realizations he comes to with the help of others are absorbing and believable. Susan Schuller, Milwaukee Public Library
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
