The Wreck of the Zanzibar

Through the diary of the independent-minded Laura, readers learn of the struggle to survive for small communities living on the Scilly Isles at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The book has an interesting structure, being a story within a story, and letters as well as a diary are used to tell it. It is good to see black and white illustrations that truly complement the text in a novel for this age group.