2023 - 1970’s Immersion Reading Challenge

Abel’s Island by William Steig (1976) 119 pages.

READING LEVEL 5.9 AR POINTS 3.0
(Ages 8-12 years, Grades 3-7)

3.5 stars rounded up - A cute little mouse survival story. Abel gets swept away from his love, Amanda, and gets stranded on a little island. As he is from wealth and had never worked before in his life, living a plush life of comfort, so he had some hard lessons to learn, living alone on the island. After numerous attempts, trying different ways to get across the little stream and failing, he realizes he will be there for a while. But, he never gives up and eventually, one year later, he musters up some courage and crosses the stream. He then faces other dangers before finally returning home to his love…at 89 Bank Street, Mossville.

I think it could have been more of an adventure story that boys would enjoy more if Abel wasn’t so fixated on his love, Amanda.

- Available to read FREE at Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/search.php?query=Abel’s island ( )

A gentle, contemplative retelling of Robinson Caruso with a mouse protagonist. Swept away by wind and flood from a happy outing with his wife, Able has to fend for himself when he cannot escape an island in a river and keep himself safe from an owl and the winter. ( )

fair

Classic survival story about nature and transformation but instead of man vs nature its a little mouse! ( )

From the back of the book cover:

"Whatever child likes The Bat-Poet or Charlotte's Web will love the way Steig uses our language and will want to relieve Abel's odyssey on many a rainy Sunday afternoon."
-Rosemary Wells, The Washington Post Book World

"With inimitable style, Steig tells the story of a mouse, Abelard Hassam di Chirico Flint, who gets swept away in a driving rainstorm while rescuing his wife's scarf and winds up stranded on a river island for a year. Abel isn't just any mouse. He's a fastidious Edwardian dandy whose inherited wealth ensures the leisurely comforts he takes such pleasure in. But Abel's high-toned life of leisure conceals a soul full of true grit: once faced with the necessity of surviving, Abel rises to the challenge."
- Starred/ Booklist

"There was no trouble in locating the best book of the year, William Steig's Abel's Island.... Abelard is, one hopes, all of us - proud, resourceful, despairing, preserving and eventually, triumphant. And so is MR. Steig triumphant in the quality of his prose - nor has he stinted on the quality and quantity of his illustrations."
- George A. Woods, The New York Times

"Abel's adventures are presented with Steig's usual grace, warmth, and insight, and the delights of the text are further enhanced by his drawings. On all counts, it's a winner."
- Starred / School Library Journal