The Vanishing Island

June 29, 2015
Twelve-year-old Bren Owen has always wanted to travel the world seeking adventure, but his father has kept him at home in Map, “the dirtiest, noisiest, smelliest city in all of Britannia.” The year is 1599, and Holland is the great sea power in this first book in the Chronicles of the Black Tulip series, set in an alternate past. Holland has colonies throughout Southeast Asia, and when a ship of the Dutch Bicycle & Tulip Company stops in Map, Bren would do anything to get on board. A mysterious object Bren receives from a dying sailor gives him the chance he has been waiting for, but it also causes more adventure than he is entirely comfortable with. Wolverton’s (Neversink) story speeds along suspensefully through a history intriguingly different from our own. The privations and hazards of sea travel are thoroughly depicted (as is the unpleasant reality of Bren’s work in a vomitorium), and the occasional moment of magic is gracefully understated. The major beats of the plot are fairly standard and the characterizations basic, but Bren’s story still entertains. Ages 8–12. Agent: Jennifer Rofé, Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

September 1, 2015

Gr 4-8-Twelve-year-old Bren longs with all his boyish heart to go to sea and have adventures like those he has read about. Despite his father's wishes that he become a mapmaker, Bren tries once again to run away to sea. But after a near disaster, Bren is consigned to helping clean the vomitorium at Rand McNally's Map Emporium. A run in with a dying sailor and a strange coin set Bren on a journey he could never have imagined, involving secret treasure, an island not found on any map, and a strange new friend named Mouse. And while Bren doesn't believe in the supernatural, flashes of it start to appear during the journey until Bren must admit that it's all too real. Bren starts to realize that adventure isn't as romantic as he always thought, but the only way to get home again is to continue the journey he started. This engaging historical narrative will draw readers in who love stories of adventure and exploration with a strong dose of fantasy. The alternate history angle includes both the grossly realistic details of sailing and living in the Age of Discovery (1599 AD) with the dark supernatural creepiness of ancient magic and folk tales. The cliff-hanger ending guarantees that Bren's journey doesn't end with this first book. VERDICT Worth purchasing for libraries where historical fantasies are popular.-Heidi Grange, Summit Elementary School, Smithfield, UT

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 15, 2015
In the first book of Wolverton's fantasy trilogy, the hero embarks on a gripping high-seas adventure packed with action, magic, and folklore spanning East and West. It's the Age of Discovery, and 12-year-old Bren Owen is yearning for adventure. Unfortunately, he's trapped in the city of his birth on the Britannia coast by the destiny his father has deemed for him: that Bren follow in his footsteps as a mapmaker. Bren's attempts to stow away on ships bound for exotic lands are continuously foiled until a dying man gifts him with a talisman called a paiza that becomes his bargaining chip. Encoded with a secret map to the site of Marco Polo's lost treasure, the paiza is just what Adm. Bowman, master of the Albatross, wants and hence becomes Bren's ticket aboard the flagship of the Dutch Bicycle and Tulip Co. Onboard, Bren meets a Chinese girl named Mouse with the power to talk with animals, and together they crack the code and overcome unrelenting obstacles. After surviving a pirate attack, a mutiny, and, finally, being cast overboard, they find their way to an island long vanished from any map only to realize that their journey doesn't end there. Wolverton deftly draws parallels between Western astrology and Chinese mythology and cleverly weaves fiction and legend into history. Fast-paced and entertaining, this fine trilogy opener will keep both fantasy and historical-fiction buffs turning the pages. (maps) (Historical fantasy. 9-14)

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