''Baby Island'' is a children's novel by

Carol Ryrie Brink Carol Ryrie Brink (December 28, 1895 – August 15, 1981) was an American writer of over thirty juvenile and adult books. Her novel ''Caddie Woodlawn'' won the 1936 Newbery Medal and a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1958. Lifetime Caroline S ...

, first published in 1937. It resembles ''

Robinson Crusoe ''Robinson Crusoe'' () is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a tra ...

'' in that the protagonists Mary and Jean are stranded on a

desert island A desert island, deserted island, or uninhabited island, is an island, islet or atoll that is not permanently populated by humans. Uninhabited islands are often depicted in films or stories about shipwrecked people, and are also used as stereot ...

– but with four babies. The novel was republished many times over the next several decades. It is one of the few early " Robinsonades" that focuses on girls. Although its basis is in survival literature, it is a humorous story that has been a comedic favorite over the years.

Plot summary

The book begins with the Wallace sisters, twelve-year-old Mary and ten-year-old Jean, traveling alone on a ship to meet their father in Australia. The girls often babysit young children: at home, they had enjoyed "borrowing" the babies of neighbors. Their ship is disabled in a storm, and the two girls are set adrift in a lifeboat with four babies, the children of fellow passengers. The craft eventually drifts to a tropical island, and in a Robinson Crusoe-like scenario, they must learn to build shelter and survive on wild foodstuffs. They do this with great success, while raising the babies through various

developmental milestones Child development stages are the theoretical milestones of child development, some of which are asserted in nativist theories. This article discusses the most widely accepted developmental stages in children. There exists a wide variation i ...

and adopting a baby monkey who they raise alongside the babies. Throughout the story, the girls sing "

Scots Wha Hae "Scots Wha Hae" (English: ''Scots Who Have''; gd, Brosnachadh Bhruis) is a patriotic song of Scotland written using both words of the Scots language and English, which served for centuries as an unofficial national anthem of the country, but h ...

" to inspire their courage to deal with their situation. In the latter part of the book the girls also encounter a character like

Friday Friday is the day of the week between Thursday and Saturday. In countries that adopt the traditional "Sunday-first" convention, it is the sixth day of the week. In countries adopting the ISO-defined "Monday-first" convention, it is the fifth d ...

: Mr. Peterkin -- a mysterious, gruff man who lives alone on the island and dislikes children. He eventually warms to their babies, and they enjoy his company and his useful craftsmanship. A strong storm on Christmas Eve destroys much of what the girls had built on the island, which they find disheartening. On Christmas Day, after three months on the island, the girls are rescued and all the babies are returned to their parents. Their parents were able to find them through the letters Jean had set adrift in tin cans, a form of a

message in a bottle A message in a bottle (abbrev. MIB) is a form of communication in which a message is sealed in a container (typically a bottle) and released into a conveyance medium (typically a body of water). Messages in bottles have been used to send distres ...

. Mr. Peterkin decides to leave the island and go to marry his sweetheart, having changed his mind about children.

References

1937 American novels American children's novels Novels set on islands Novels about survival skills Castaways in fiction 1937 children's books Children's books set on islands {{1930s-child-novel-stub