Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
Fourteen-year-old Matilda lives on a tropical island with her mother. A civil war between government troops (redskin soldiers) and the rebels have made all the teachers and white people flee the island, except for Mr. Watts. Mr. Watts has volunteered to be their teacher and he introduces Mr. Pip from Great Expectations. Through the world of Mr. Pip, Matilda and her classmates learn how to use their minds and imaginations to help them survive through the atrocities that are about to happen in their tiny island. The redskin soldiers capture Mr. Watts and to everyone's astonishment, kill him. Matilda's mother speaks out and she is taken away to the back of their house. After a couple of minutes, Matilda is taken to her mother and she sees her mother being raped. Matilda's mother begs them not to rape her daughter and offers her life for Matilda's innocence not to be taken away. The soldiers then kill her and Matilda is spared. That night, Matilda is swept away by a swollen river and thinks about giving up. She decides she wants to survive and she holds onto a log while she is being swept away to the open sea. In the sea, she sees Mr. Masoi and his family in a small boat. They take Matilda and escape the island. They are rescued by a large boat and are sent to Honiara where they are given a physical. Matilda is then sent to Australia to meet her father. Later on as an adult, Matilda writes about her life on that tiny island and about how her mother, Mr. Watts, and even how Mr. Pip shaped her life. This is a powerful story that I would recommend to upper grade students. I would not recommend it to struggling readers since the story is long. I felt the only weakness of the story was towards the end of the book. The story takes too long, from the time Matilda met up with her father to the time she decides to return home.
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