Adrift

Starred review from May 4, 2015
In a terrifying survival story in which past traumas are as visceral and intense as present circumstances, five teenagers try to stay alive after becoming lost off the Atlantic coast. Raised in a blue-collar neighborhood in Queens, friends Matt and John are working in Montauk, N.Y., for the summer when they meet 17-year-old Driana Gonzaga, her Brazilian cousin Estefania, and Estefania’s boyfriend, João. After Estefania attempts some daring night surfing, the other teenagers attempt to rescue her in a small, ill-equipped boat; engine problems soon strand them. Griffin (Burning Blue) gives his characters just enough know-how to keep them from being completely helpless, but the situation is clearly beyond their control. Police emails and other communications provide brief respites from the rapidly degrading situation on the boat. Profound moments such as when Matt realizes that the “cruel” sun “was just being what it was. A mindless, merciless star that would shine on whatever got in its way” will haunt readers as much as the lethal injuries, worsening weather, class friction, and psychological instability the teenagers face. Ages 12–up. Agent: Jodi Reamer, Writers House.

April 15, 2015
Two buddies who have been through trauma together before find themselves with three relative strangers out on the open Atlantic, where survival becomes extremely uncertain. Matt and John work at a state park, where they meet the three, and are working-class in a way that the others don't understand. Stolid John is mechanically minded and still suffers from the death of his father years earlier. Matt is determined to get into Yale and puts his energy toward saving and studying with that goal in mind. Dark, dreadlocked Driana is visiting the park with her cousin Estefania and Stef's boyfriend, Joao. The latter two are from Rio de Janiero and have a carefree aura of entitlement-though Stef was adopted from the favelas by Driana's uncle after her mother was gunned down in front of her. Griffin explores their individual psychologies and interactions with nuance. Stef has a reckless streak, and her sudden jaunt on a windsurfer leads the others into danger as they go to her aid with a small, open boat. With no radio or gear for the open sea, the craft offers little help for survival as hours, then days pass, the pressures mounting on each in ways designed to test their limits. While the danger is real, the book's at its most riveting as the characters interact and implode. This fast-paced survival adventure makes an excellent crucible for Griffin's examination of class. (Adventure. 12-16)

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April 1, 2015

Gr 9 Up-Matt and his childhood friend John have summer jobs in the Hamptons before their last year of high school. The summer has gone well, and there are only a few weeks left before school starts again. Matt will return to the selective public school in Manhattan that he has attended since freshman year, and John to the neighborhood public school. Matt hopes to get into Yale, where he wants to major in forestry so he can man a solitary outpost away from people. John wants to get his certification as an electrician like his father. Hoping to make some extra money on their day off, the boys take a couple coolers and fill them with sodas and ice cream bars and head to the beach. They meet Driana, Joao, and Estefania. What should have been a brief and anonymous exchange alters their lives when Driana invites them to a party she's having. Estefania decides to go out surfing at midnight and thus begins a tragic series of events. Clues about the characters are revealed in a leisurely manner, leaving readers to guess about their true intentions. This contrasts with the rapidity in which the plot progresses, evidenced by Matt's immediate willingness to help people he met only a short time before. VERDICT Recommend to teens who enjoyed Matt de la Pena's The Living (Delacorte, 2013) and other survival stories.-Suanne B. Roush, formerly at Osceola High School, Seminole, FL

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2015
Narrator Matt and his friend John have left their native Queens to take summer jobs in Montauk on the easternmost tip of Long Island. There they meet a trio of wealthy Portuguese teens -- Driana; her cousin, Stef; and Stef's boyfriend, JoJo -- and attend a party with them. When Stef impulsively decides on a little midnight windsurfing, the others borrow a neighbor's ill-equipped and poorly maintained motorboat in order to bring her back to shore, leading to a string of mishaps that turn this into a marine variant on the classic wilderness survival adventure. The teens brave medical emergencies, shark attacks, the scorching-hot sun, and the monster waves of a tropical storm. They also must stave off hunger and thirst, and as tensions naturally rise among the group members, the exposition of their backstories is seamlessly woven into the plot. If the resolution isn't quite as satisfying as one might hope -- it's hard not to want to see the romance between Matt and Dri in full flower -- it's also realistic that the trauma of the ordeal has taken a toll on the relationships among its survivors. jonathan hunt

(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)