The book I am going to be writing about is called Dr Franklins Island by Ann Halam.

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                                                                                              Ricky Kotecha 9PM

The book I am going to be writing about is called Dr Franklins Island by Ann Halam. The book is about 3 kids, Semirah (Semi), Miranda and Arnie. They won a science competition by Planet Savers to go to Quito. During the journey on the plane, the plane crashed and only Semi, Miranda and Arnie survived. They ended up on the island where they were about to be the next victims of genetic engineering because of two evil scientists called Dr Skinner and Dr Franklin.

Key themes that are brought in this book is having evil scientists that always have a new plan on their mind and are always up to something. It is also about stranded survivors that have to save their lives from these evil scientists or else their life is fatal. Lastly the story has a little on the good side, this meaning that not all aspects in the book are bad and there are good times when Dr Skinner tries to help Semi and Miranda not be killed, because he has a slight sensitivity towards children who are about to suffer and is not just a bad person but does have a good side unlike Dr Franklin.

Characters in the book

  • Semi: In this book Semi is a chubby girl (but not fat).She is a shy girl. I know this because it says “Hold on Semirah, what if you win, you know you are shy”. Her actual name is Semirah but her nickname is Semi. She is quite an intelligent girl and is mostly is like a nerd. She wears glasses and gets called names like “Semi the semi-sighted” She loves homework especially science as you can tell from reading the story. She has a brother. She isn’t a talkative person because she is shy, but when she gets along with someone she does talk. She doesn’t have many friends just the odd one or two partly why she doesn’t talk much. As the story progresses she makes friends mainly with Miranda but also Arnie.

  • Arnie: Arnie is a fragile person to Semi and Miranda but he can get annoying after a while when he gets impatient and starts imitating and calling names like “Semi the semi-sighted” and after a while it does get annoying. Arnie is a fat and chubby person who loves to play on the game boy and is a game boy fan. He is a shy person in the beginning but does talk confidently once the conversation has broadened and talks as if he was talking to a friend.

  • Miranda: Miranda in this book is the “very cool girl” and is the coolest of them all. She has “dark black hair and long brown legs” she is an extremely confident girl compared to the rest and is hardly scared of anything. She is also a determined person as always wants to do something or the other.

Miranda, Semi and Arnie ended up together on the island together by when the plane crash occurred they all fell into the water, most children died but Semi, Miranda and Arnie saw the island near by and while trying to get to it Miranda and Semi saw each other and helped each other to get to the island. For Arnie he helped himself to get to the island and then he met Semi and Miranda on the beach.

Miranda and Semi when they had met they did interact well with each other and got on well. This I know because from the start when they first met not on the beach but in the airport there was no problems like not talking well, or not liking each other, or don’t want to be friends. They also interacted well because they listened to each others ideas and always compromised except the one or two odd arguments like when Semi says “Great, my worst nightmare, being on a stranded beach with out any books to read” Miranda replied saying “Yeah I know, but at least there are some people to talk to”. These quotes from the book symbolise that there was no problems between Semi and Miranda.

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    Arnie didn’t get on well with Miranda right from the start at the airport. It says “I had the impression that Arnie and Miranda hadn’t been getting on well with each other” This quote says it all. It shows that Miranda and Arnie’s interaction amongst them wasn’t good and didn’t seem to get better during the whole story.

    As for Arnie and Semi through out the story there were no problems except for the few arguments. When ever they interact well and are getting on Arnie will always ruin it by imitating or doing something silly. ...

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