Stranded

by Jocelyn Shipley

Overview

After his girlfriend’s accidental death by overdose, Kipp has been living on the streets, overwhelmed by his grief.

He wants to honor her memory and finds help to get clean, but just when he feels like he’s getting his life together, everything comes crashing down. He gets fired from his job and kicked out of his rented room on the same day. So when Reba, a friendly woman he met at the shelter, offers him a job and a place to live, he leaps at the chance. This is his lucky break. But when a girl comes to Reba's house looking for her missing brother, Kipp starts to wonder what Reba's real story is and if his lucky break might actually be a nightmare.

This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading level book for teen readers who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read! The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459823891
Publisher:	Orca Book Publishers
Publication date:	09/22/2020
Series:	Orca Soundings Series
Edition description:	High readability edition
Pages:	120
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.32(d)
Lexile:	HL550L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Jocelyn Shipley is an award-winning writer who has written several books for teens, including Stranded, Raw Talent, Impossible and Shatterproof. A graduate from York University, Jocelyn has studied writing at St. Lawrence College and the Humber School for Writers. She lives in Toronto and on Vancouver Island.

Editorial Reviews

Kipp is a plucky and introspective narrator whose struggles will likely resonate with readers...A sensitive survivor story for reluctant readers.

Kirkus Reviews

These engaging, fast-paced books...depict difficult topics with sensitivity.

School Library Journal

Does exactly what it sets out to do – create a gripping and realistic thriller that will engage and keep readers involved until the end. Highly Recommended.

CM: Canadian Review of Materials

2020-05-16
Six months after his girlfriend’s death, a young man tries to honor her life by making the most of his own.

Fate has not been kind to Kipp. Hardened by a series of unstable and neglectful living situations and wracked with guilt over the death of his girlfriend, he’s determined to make something of himself, working tirelessly to get back on track after a stint in a youth rehabilitation center. Getting fired from his restaurant shift manager job after confronting an Islamophobic customer and losing his apartment in a single day, however, drag him to the pits of despair. An unexpected offer of shelter and employment from Reba, a former volunteer at the youth center, seems almost too good to be true, and Kipp jumps at the chance to redeem himself. But Reba is hiding secrets of her own, and Kipp soon finds himself battling not just for his livelihood, but his very life. The story is complex, with many interconnected parts—Kipp’s childhood, his relationship with his girlfriend, and his spiral into drug addiction and subsequent rehabilitation—although readers may wish for deeper character development. Events of the present day unfold at an engagingly brisk pace, even if the ending wraps up a bit too neatly. Kipp is a plucky and introspective narrator whose struggles will likely resonate with readers who will root for him as he works to right his rapidly crumbling world. Main characters seem to be white; important secondary characters are cued as Chinese Canadian.

A sensitive survivor story for reluctant readers. (Fiction. 12-18)

Kirkus Reviews