The Lucky Bottle

LoveReading4Kids Says

Blessed with storytelling magic, along with a generous sprinkling of actual magic, in The Lucky Bottle celebrated author-illustrator Chris Wormell has created a stunning story that will grip 8+ year-olds hook, line and sinker.

With nods to Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver’s Travels and The Tempest, this melds the thrills of traditional adventure stories — desert island survival, treasure-hungry pirates, messages in bottles — with thoroughly fresh elements, among them witchcraft, a giant tortoise, and a beautiful bond between a boy and long-time islander.

When ten-year-old Jack finds himself washed up on a tiny Atlantic island, “a great black void of loneliness came upon him, and a homesickness so acute, he wept uncontrollably.” Such is the direct, affecting lyricism of this novel, and such is the gravity of Jack’s situation. Happily, though, his dark mood is lifted when he discovers he’s not alone. A wise, kindly man Jack names Robinson has been on the island for nineteen years, living in a cave packed with books, which, in Robinson’s words “have the power to enchant and cast spells just as powerful as any magic potion!”

When Robinson teaches Jack to read and write, he suggests Jack writes messages in bottles that might help him realise his dream of being rescued. Then, as they uncover the island’s long-lost treasures, along with links to pirate stories Jack recalls from home, he and Robinson implement an outlandish plan involving a witch’s potion and a deep belief in the notion of luck.

Joanne Owen

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