Time elapsed in this book: 1 week
Length of their junior year: 3 years, 6 months
Jessica’s love interest: Ken Matthews
Entertainment rating: 9/10
I loved this book, both as a kid and now. The concept of being stranded on a desert island and having to survive is irresistible. And the cover: perfect! It’s tropical, but Jess is unhappy and wearing wet clothes that seem to be disintegrating.
Sixteen members of the junior class are going on a marine biology field trip. For people like Liz, the trip is a fun way to spend a Saturday. For people like Jess, the trip is extra credit to bring up her chemistry grade. How does this relate to chemistry? Who knows. Amy and Lila were also directed to attend to bring up their chemistry grades, although Amy got out of it by saying she had a family obligation (in reality, she’s spending the weekend with Bruce). Jess is not excited, but since she must, she has her sights set on Ken Matthews. He’s the cutest boy going, so she figures she’ll give it another go with him. Apparently she and Amy are both recycling former love interests in this book.
Before they get on the boat that will take them to Anacapa Island, Mr. Russo puts them in groups of four. Jess hopes she’ll be with Ken, but she ends up with Winston (her assigned safety buddy), Lois Waller, and Randy Mason. Jess describes her group mates as “two nobodies and the class clown,” which is mean but made me laugh. She tries to spend the boat ride ignoring them and flirting with Ken, but Winston keeps joking about taking the buddy system seriously and interrupts Jess every time she makes a move.
They get to the island, which is gorgeous. Jess wants to sunbathe and flirt with Ken, but she’s the scribe for her group and can’t escape.
A surprise storm starts moving in, and Mr. Russo announces they need to leave. The sea is choppy and gray on the ride back. Jess snuggles up to Ken, and they start reminiscing about times they dated in the past: going to homecoming sophomore year together and Ken running out of gas on the ride home (where is this book series???), kissing at the Beach Disco last spring… Ken starts to invite Jess to go to Bruce’s upcoming party with him, but a huge wave hits the boat and nearly capsizes it! The engine stalls. The boat starts filling with water. The caption announces that everyone should don lifejackets and he’s going to radio for help! They all head for lifeboats, which each hold two people. These seem extremely small. Don’t lifeboats usually fit like 10??
The lifeboat Jess and Winston are in is hit with a swell and capsizes! Jess and Winston are thrown in the water! Jess starts swimming. Another big wave knocks the lifejacket off her (not sure how this is possible). Thankfully, the sea starts to calm after this, so she keeps swimming and eventually makes it to a small island, where she collapses under a palm tree and falls asleep.
When the storm subsides, the rest of the class paddle over to the half-sunken boat. Mr. Russo asks where Jess and Winston are. Liz and Aaron, say they saw their lifeboat capsize, and everyone starts to search. They find Winston’s baseball cap and Jessica’s lifejacket floating in the ocean, but no sign of either.
Everyone returns to Sweet Valley and the Coast Guard searches for Jess and Winston. Lila calls Liz to ask for an update and says what if they never find Jess? Lila will never get to apologize for all the times she made Jess feel inferior about her clothes, jewelry, or car, or all the times that she’s stolen boys from Jess! Liz comforts Lila by saying that she’s sure Jess has stolen an equal amount of boys from Lila. Lila is indeed comforted by these words. I love this so much!!
When Jess wakes up, it takes her a minute to realize where she is. She starts poking around for something to eat, and something emerges from the bushes. It’s Winston!! He says he manages to get back in the lifeboat and rowed to the island. Jess is ecstatic! They can row their way home! Winston says no, he didn’t tie the lifeboat up well overnight so it floated away. But he did take the emergency packet from the boat, which includes matches, and he’s planning to light a fire to cook the fish he caught that morning. Jess blames him for their plight and says she doesn’t want his fish or fruit he’s offering to share. But it smells good and she’s hungry so eventually she relents.
Winston says they need a plan for shelter and food. He suggests they use the Swiss Army knife from the emergency packet as a way to signal any rescuers. They build a shelter near some rocks using wood from large fallen trees for the roof and large palm leaves for the walls. Jess decorates it with additional leaves and flowers so it looks beautiful.
Back in Sweet Valley, Nicholas Morrow offers to take Liz, Steven, Jeffrey, Bruce, Ken, and Cara out on his boat so they can search for Jess. Her parents okay this because they figure nothing bad will happen with Nicholas at the helm. Sure…. a professional boat captain and teacher couldn’t keep them safe, but Nicholas can. Anyway, they head out and try to search, but then a storm starts rolling in and they have to turn around. When they get home, their parents are sick with worry since they’d heard about the storm on the radio and were scared of losing Liz and Steven too.
On the island, Jess and Winston watch clouds roll in and start talking about food they miss from Sweet Valley. They decide to collect more firewood and oranges and find a nice patch of blueberries up a hill. Suddenly, Jess realizes someone else has found the blueberries: a bear!!! I have no idea how a bear could possibly be on this island (or how large this island is), but who cares! Winston, closer to the bear, freezes before running behind Jessica for protection. Jess throws a handful of blueberries at the bear, hoping it’ll go after them. The bear doesn’t move. So Jess grabs a branch from a nearby bush and prepares to hurl it at the bear. Before she can do anything, there’s a crack of thunder and the bear heads off in the opposite direction. Crisis averted!!
Jess and Winston return to their shelter, where they manage to stay dry even when the rain starts. Winston seems depressed. Jess figures he’s scared of running into the bear again, but Winston says no, he feels like a failure. He dropped all their firewood and food and ran away from the bear. Jess tells him he’s not a failure. After all, if it weren’t for him, they wouldn’t have a shelter or food. She realizes that even though Winston drives her crazy, he’s also generous and responsible.
The storm ends, and they head out of the shelter and wander the beach. They’ve only been on the island for about 24 hours but it feels like they’ll never be found. Jess pleads to be rescued, and then a Coast Guard helicopter appears in the sky! They’ve been found!!!
They fly back to Sweet Valley, where reporters are waiting for them. Jess is glad she fixed up her hair for the occasion. Someone asks how they got the Outermost Island and says that beyond that, it’s only open ocean. Jess does all the talking, telling them how she survived by swimming for hours, finding food, building shelter, even fighting a bear! Winston finally gets a chance to speak and says he provided the entertainment while Jess did everything else.
After this, Jess spots her family in the crowd. I don’t know how she was allowed to be interviewed by all these reporters before being reunited with her parents, but this is Sweet Valley. They’re so happy to have her back and joke that everything is back to crazy.
Up next: Olivia is looking for love!