Escape

Island #3

by Gordon Korman

Luke, Charla, Will, Lyssa, J.J., and Ian aren't alone on their desert island. They've survived so far -- but now their enemies are closing in. They have only one chance at escaping. Will they make it?

Genres: Adventure, Young Adult, Fiction, Middle Grade, Childrens, Realistic Fiction, Survival

144 pages, Paperback

First published July 28, 2001

About the author

Gordon Korman is a Canadian author of children's and young adult fiction books. Korman's books have sold more than 30 million copies worldwide over a career spanning four decades and have appeared at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list.

Reviews

[Rizwan Khalil · Rating 5 out of 5]

গর্ডন করম্যানের আইল্যান্ড ট্রিলজি ছেলেবেলার প্রিয় সেবা ক্লাসিক জুল ভার্নের 'রহস্যের দ্বীপ' ও 'নোঙর ছেঁড়া', রবার্ট মাইকেল ব্যালেন্টাইনের 'প্রবাল দ্বীপ' আর তিন গোয়েন্দার 'অথৈ সাগর-১,২' পড়ার আনন্দময় সুখস্মৃতি মনে করিয়ে দিলো। সেই সাথে ভার্সিটিলাইফে দেখা আমার সবচেয়ে প্রিয় টিভি সিরিজ 'লস্ট'-কেও (অবশ্য আইল্যান্ড ট্রিলজি প্রকাশিত সেই ২০০১-এ)।

জাহাজডুবির পর ছয় কিশোর-কিশোরির আধমরা হয়ে প্রশান্ত মহাসাগরের এক নামপরিচয়হীন জনমানবহীন ছোট্ট প্রবাল দ্বীপে ভেসে আসা। কলা-নারিকেল ছাড়া কোনো খাবার নেই, কোনো সুপেয় পানিও নেই। সেখানে শুরু হয় তাদের প্রতিনিয়ত মরণপণ বাঁচার লড়াই করা। এদিকে দ্বীপে ঘটতে থাকে কিছু রহস্যময় মন্দ মানুষের আনাগোনা। গহীন জঙ্গলের মাঝে পাওয়া যায় দ্বিতীয় বিশ্বযুদ্ধের একটা পরিত্যক্ত টপ সিক্রেট আমেরিকান এয়ার ফোর্স বেস। লোকগুলোর দ্বীপে অভিসন্ধি কী? পরিত্যক্ত অতি গোপনীয় এয়ার ফোর্স বেসটার প্রকৃত উদ্দেশ্য কী ছিল? এমন এক দ্বীপ যার অস্তিত্ব পৃথিবীর কোনো ম্যাপে নেই, সেখানে আদৌ কি কেউ তাদের উদ্ধার করতে আসতে পারবে? নাকি দ্বীপের অসংখ্য প্রতিকূলতার পরেও এইসব মন্দলোকদের হাতেই গুলি খেয়ে বেঘোরে মরতে হবে?

বরাবরের মতোই করম্যানের নিখাঁদ মসৃণ টানটান স্টোরিটেলিং ও স্টোরি ডেভেলপমেন্ট এবং মনে রাখার মতো মূল চরিত্রদের পিচ পার্ফেক্ট নিখুঁত ক্যারেক্টার ডেভেলপমেন্টে পৃষ্ঠার পর পৃষ্ঠা যেন আপনা থেকেই রীতিমত উড়ে গেছে, দেড়শ পৃষ্ঠা করে তিনটি পর্বের মোট সাড়ে চারশ পৃষ্ঠার পুরো ট্রিলজি নাকেমুখে গোগ্রাসে গিলে টানা দুইদিনের মধ্যেই খতম করে তৃপ্তির নিঃশ্বাস ফেলেছি। আহা! এই না হলে উপাদেয় কিশোর-অ্যাডভেঞ্চার উপন্যাস!

প্রথম পর্ব: শিপরেকড, ৪/৫
দ্বিতীয় পর্ব: সার্ভাইভাল, ৪.৫/৫
তৃতীয় পর্ব: এসকেপ, ৪.৫/৫

[Chantal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice ending to this book series. Although the ending was a little far fetched and out of the box, it was a good ending. Lots of adventures.

[Kat V · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super solid ending. Enjoyed this one. Best in the trilogy. 4 stars

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up
Nice conclusion to the trilogy

[Penny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the first two in this series several years ago, but missed the third. It was pretty much worth the wait though - not high literature, but fairly entertaining. I like it for my classroom because: it is short, it is part of a series, and it is suspenseful - three strong ingredients for reluctant readers.

[Reading Rediscovered · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good ending to an adventure filled trilogy. I appreciate that the six kids were able to work together so well & survive on such a deserted island, despite struggle after struggle after struggle.
A great middle years series.

[Kate McMurry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part 3 of a Middle-Grade, three-part, serialized, survivalist novel from 2001, which is frequently, nonsensically and melodramatically poorly motivated

Six teenagers, ranging in age from 13 to 16, Luke, J.J., Will, Lyssa, Charla, and Ian, are condemned by their parents (ranging in motivation for their cruelty from desperate to delusional) to be trapped, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, on a small, two-masted schooner, the Phoenix, crewed by only a captain and a first mate, for a 4-week, seafaring boot camp for juvenile delinquents called Charting a New Course (CNC).

See my review of part 1, Shipwreck. I have written my detailed opinion of this entire serialized novel there.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this final book of the Island series. I wanted to read this book right after I finished the second book and it did not disappoint. My son and daughter, 12 and 9, both have enjoyed this series as well. I read this book one day after I finished the 2nd book and finished in the same day. Easy read and enjoyable!

[Gretchen Pratt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, it was a really engaging story. A little over-the-top at times, but a real adventure. The biggest challenge throughout the trilogy is the vocabulary. Significant use of topic terminology with limited context clue support. So while the books are highly engaging and short (great choice for middle grade readers), lack of vocabulary knowledge can really interfere with comprehension for kids.

[Benjamin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ben Simon

The book I read is "Island" Book Three: Escape, by Gordon Korman. This book is the last one in Korman's Island series where six kids are shipwrecked on a deserted island and must survive. This is personally my favorite book in the series because of it's genius plot, writing, danger, and pulse-stopping suspense that literally keeps the reader on the edge of their seat. The main characters who end up stranded consist of Luke (a boy framed for having a gun in his locker), Will and Lyssa (two twins who never get along and often result in having very violent arguments), Ian (a boy who is obsessed with television and the internet), Charla (a girl built on superior athletic skill), and J.J (the spoiled son of a rich and famous Hollywood actor). In the first book, all six are sent on a sailing program for juvenile delinquents made to better them. Their boat gets caught in a violent storm which results in separating them and eventually, in the next book, reuniting on a distant island. They manage to survive using each others' skills to their advantage. By the end of the sequel, Will is severely wounded and the group has not only discovered that notorious smugglers are based at the island, but also an abandoned American air force base from World War II and a hidden atomic bomb. In the final book, the team is still struggling to survive and are at deep risk of being found by the illegal smugglers. At the same time they are racing furiously to help Will recover and, with great discretion, hide the bomb from the smugglers. In the end, J.J decides to stow aboard the smugglers' plane and return with help. Unfortunately, the smugglers find and capture J.J upon landing in China, deciding to hold him for ransom. J.J just barely managed to escape his captors and a civilian witness contacts the U.S Marines, who save J.J, arrest the smugglers, and set out to rescue the other five castaways back at the island.

The title of this book, Escape, allows the reader to easily understand the concept of the story. It is kept rather simple so that the reader can at least guess that the story focuses on the characters' effort to finally escape the island they are stranded on. However simple the book's name may be, though, the dangers and problems introduced in the last book strengthen the urgency in the idea of Escape. This causes a very deep feeling of suspense both before and while reading the book, and greatly elevates the reader's concern for the characters. The suspenseful power of this title can also cause readers to raise questions such as: "Will everyone be able to make it out of the island?". The major mood in this book is not very overt, though it does often contain a thriller sort of vibe.

The setting is a very crucial part of this book, as it is even the name of it's series: Island. In this book as well as the previous one, the story is set on a deserted island where in which the characters must survive. If this setting was never mentioned or described, the reader would have no understanding of the story whatsoever. The book's point of view also plays a very important role. Since it is written in 3rd person view, it allows the reader to delve deeper into each characters' thoughts and emotions all at once, something that is far more difficult to do with something written in 1st person view. This works especially well with the twins, Will and Lyssa. When Lyssa helps caring for her injured brother, you can explore the thoughts swimming through each of their heads, such as them recalling their heated fights in the past. Overall, these factors give this book advantages that add meaning to the story and understanding of each of the characters. Gordon Korman's use of foreshadowing in his last book is pure genius. At the very end of the second book, the kids stumble across Junior, a backup atomic bomb built in secret by the U.S during World War II. The third book begins with a "flashback" prologue taking place on the island a day after the war. In it, U.S soldiers are shown abandoning their former secret base right after burying the inert bomb. We then cut right to where the previous book ended.

In my opinion, this is by far the best book in Korman's Island series. It is the most adventurous, most complex, and most fun to read. Escape keeps you at the edge of your seat always guessing what is going to happen next. But because it contains content such as blood and other intense or squeamish factors, I would recommend this to someone 13-14 and up. But overall, "Island" Book Three: Escape is fun, easy-read book that anyone can enjoy

[25bensonk · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm on page 11, and i can already see this book very interesting from the exotic choice of words and the survivors on the islands stories, even tho i haven't gotten far i assume they could be immigrants who escaped from there home place being attacked during WW2 as i saw WW2 had just ended and the survivors could possibly be Jews who escaped and survived and heard the war ended and now they assume that they are safe, but now all im seeing is there backstory on back in before or during the war before they have had to escape?

[Iris · Rating 3 out of 5]

im actually very sad that no one i know read this as a child because i need to speak to someone about it

[Haven · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this book because it was adventurous. It made me picture myself in the jungle.

Will and his family were on a ship heading to somewhere. It gets serious when Will's gunshot wound is badly infected. His fever goes up. He gets goofy and passes out. They give him medicine from the abandoned army dispensary in the jungle. Medicine is running low. Ian said he should have seen a doctor. Their plan to escape is tricky! J.J. has to go on the smugglers plane, he is held for ransom and tries to get everyone else rescued. The smugglers find J.J. and threaten him. They want info on his friends. They break his arm but he doesn't tell on his friends. He convinced them that he is the son of a Hollywood director using his glasses. They could get big bucks for him. When he thinks they'll kill him even when they get paid, he gets out of there. He runs into a police car, J.J.'s father had sent.
Will's fever gets worse. The infection is so bad the bullet needs to be taken out. Luke and Carla remove the bullet with Ian's help. They used stuff from the army camp next to atomic bomb Junior. Will comes two days later. They escape the island on a yellow raft. A marine scuba diver gets them onto a chopper. J.J. is on the chopper, too! When they get back to the main land scientists open up Junior. They are all there to see the note inside the atomic bomb that says KA-BOOM! The island is named after Junior. Radford is found in a bar and arrested. He gets charged with six counts of attempted murder. They reunite at J.J.'s house.

I would recommend this book to middle school and high school boys. Girls in this age group might like it too, if they're looking for an adventure!

[Jari - · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Three Escape by Gordon Korman. The book is a nail bitting, grip riding book. The characters are stuck and have many escape chances but most attempts fail except when J.J Finds a plane to escape just to find out it is smugglers that use the uncharted island off the pacific ocean.The issue is life or death. Will a main character has been wounded from a gun shot to the leg from the previous book J.J escapes with luck and gets a lift to the uncharted island to help rescue the others.During J.Js life or death days the othe castaways remove the bullet with old surgical equipment that was used during vietnam where the airforce hid the planes.My favorite quote was on Page 79 "The goodbyes back at camp had been shattering." This shows why leaving a friend(s) alone at some uncharted island in the book is kind a sad. another good quote is on page 100 it says"There was the slug - ugly misshapen, glory but out."This shows even with adversity you can overcome anything if you just believe.The other social issue is adversity like when the other castaways besides J.J got the bullet out they could of stop and given up but they did not to save wills life in this world there is many types of adversity such as you are down 5-1 in the 9th

[McKenzie Richardson · Rating 3 out of 5]

For more reviews, check out my blog: Craft-CycleWhile I absolutely loved the first book in the series, I feel like my interest level dropped as the series went on. The events just became too unbelievable. This was a good wrap-up to the series, but parts were just so dramatic and extreme that they kind of took me out of the story.The book was still well-written, but I missed all of the interesting information given in the first book about ships, marine life, and survival techniques. My general impression was that there was less of that in this one. Still a good read, but after how much I enjoyed the first one, this one fell a bit flat.This is still a great series for young readers, especially reluctant readers who may be incentivized by the quick pace and high level of adventure and suspense. Overall, a good series with a lot of interesting information. This was my least favorite, but it was still a good read.

[Trevor Fletcher]

The book Island Book Three: Escape is a great book. It is about six kids that got stuck on an island. The lived on the island for about a month. They had to live on what the island offered them. They had fish almost everyday of the week. They had to boil water to get the salt water fresh. The six kids didn't always get along with each other. Some of the kids were getting sick and injured until a plane dropped medicine off but didn't help them anymore then that.

I would recommend this book to males from the ages 13-15. This book would be better for kids who like adventures, mystery, and fictional books. If you like the outdoors this book would be great for you.

I read this book because it was kind of short and easy. I also read this book because the first two Island books were good, so I decided to read the third book. I would rate this book an eight out of ten.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Title: Escape
Author: Gordon Korman
Series: Island, 3
Format: paperback
Length: 132 pages
Rating: 3 stars

Synopsis: Luke, Charla, Will, Lyssa, J.J., and Ian aren't alone on their desert island. They've survived so far -- but now their enemies are closing in. They have only one chance to escape. Will they make it?

Favourite character: Ian
Least favourite character: N/A

Mini-review: This was okay. I liked how JJ came to his senses and Luke had to perform surgery. Would've liked to see them reunite with their parents though.

Fan Cast:
Luke Haggerty - Sean Ryan Fox
Will Greenfield - Diego Velasquez
Lyssa Greenfield - Avi Lake
JJ Lane - Jacob Melton
Charla Swann - Skai Jackson
Ian Sikvorsky - Jacob Tremblay

[Lisa Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final installment of the Island trilogy, Escape has Luke and the other kids having to make desperate descisions to find a way to not only survive, but to get out. Knowing that the only people that will ever find them on the island are murdering smugglers, and having will dying of an infection from a bullet would, they make the choice to have one of them stow away on the smugglers plane to try and get help. But when rescue still doesn't come, they may have to take matters into their own hands.

Such a great adventure story, especially for kids. It is clean, exciting, and a great way to wrap up the story.

[Caitlyn Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book tought me to never be selfish and that teamwork works the best in most dangerous situations like the kids in the book went through. I loved this book and I thought the ending was the best part because the rich kid JJ who didn't do anything useful on the island and thought the whole thing with the criminals on the island was a fake, finally stepped up to the plate and took the chance to redeem himself from the mistakes he made.

[Z · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure why I like this series, but I really, really do. It's about a group of kids, all of whom have serious issues, who end up on an island trying to survive. Things spiral out of control from there, and it stops being just a man versus nature story in pretty incredible (unbelievable?) ways. And I still really like it.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a awesome book, the only problem was that I have not read books 1 or 2.
I think that all the characters became better people in this book, although that is true with a lot of characters in many books.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A clear and present danger is on the island, and the castaways' are falling apart. J.J. runs off into the woods, Will is fatally injured, and even Charla is losing her temper. This thrilling conclusion to the Island series made me sad to leave these characters.

[Josh · Rating 1 out of 5]

medical wiz

[Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

really good book

[wanderer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun series. The kids were so on edge that anything I read next will seem anticlimactic. Which annoys me.

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

for a children’s series this was very brutal holy smokes but very good!!!

[Steven R. McEvoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was originally published in 2001 and went through a rebranding in 2024, I really love the rebranded covers, but the eBook editions still have the old covers. According to Goodreads there are 19 editions of the third volume in this series, including editions in English, French, Japanese, and Spanish. My introduction to Korman’s works was the 39 Clues back in 2009. Since then I have read 95 of his books including this volume. I am almost thorough his canon, and have completed all the stand alone books and am now just working my way through the remaining series volumes. Not counting omnibus editions I believe that as of the summer of 2025 Korman has published 109 books. With each that I read I am entertained and often challenged, and I am always entertained. I do plan on trying to read them all. My son, who is 17 often, reads these books to me or with me, and he still loves them.

A description of this volume states:

“Things were bad enough when Luke, Lyssa, Will, J.J. Ian, and Charla were stuck alone on the island. But now they have company-really bad company. Plus, Will is seriously injured and needs help immediately. Before, escape was something the kids could only hope for. Now it's a matter of life and death.”

Another states:

“The thrilling conclusion the survival suspense series Island, from bestelling and award-winning author Gordon Korman!

Luke, Charla, Will, Lyssa, J.J., and Ian aren't alone on their desert island. They've survived so far -- but now their enemies are closing in. They have only one chance at escaping. Will they make it?”

Each chapter title is a day and time; the first chapter is Day 16, 3:35 P.M. and the final chapter is Day 28, 8:50 A.M. The majority of the story youth as they try and survive on the desert island; they are all now closed in old camo from the abandoned air force base. They need to still hide from the criminals using the island via float plane. They need to be prepped to launch a signal fire or douse their cooking fire. They have an encounter with the criminals and soon things are desperate. But can a crazy plan work. To find out read this thrilling conclusion to this trilogy.

Great pace, excellent action. Amazing characters. A great read for action fans of all ages.

This series is published as three short works, it is also published in an omnibus edition with all three stories in 1 volume. But what I like about the shorter versions is they are great for the classroom, or reluctant readers. This volume is short; but it keeps your attention, readers are drawn in through book one and are desperate for the final instalment by the end of this one.

This story a great conclusion to this trilogy, an excellent read from Korman’s pen.

I still have 14 books from series left to read to have completed the canon of Korman’s works. I am grateful I finally gave this a read it is an excellent series! This is a great volume than even reluctant readers will love this book and series.

[Jax H]

Island Gordon Korman. 6 kids aka the castaways Get trapped on an island. With bad people they try not to get in trouble with the bandits so they are in a bad situation. One of the kids will have been shot and is slowly getting worse since all of the medication ran out. So J.J a character tries to plan an escape. The bandits have a plane that goes back and forth so they grab a ride to land.
The arthur emphasis the movement and athleticism of a character and how sick another is And just in general how hard it would be for them to survive speaking of the bandits they were armed and they had to share the same island which wasn't very big so it emphasized how big the adversity was
I recommend this book to people who would read the first two because this is the third book and I didn't realize that until three fourths of the way done otherwise the book has some really good aspects to it and some not so good one is it really has a good it's really good job at explaining and putting a picture in my mind of what is going on inside of the book it's almost like there's a movie playing in my head whenever I read the book down Parts are is some of the chapters can be really long and it's just sometimes the plot doesn't make sense in ways I haven't really read the first two so that could have a big role in it gowise I'd recommend it to people who like suspense in Cliffhangers and enjoy like say the movie Hatchet that's like same concept kind of thing

[Recoco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty interesting book I read a while back. Basically in the first two books (if you haven’t read them already), some dumb kids do dumb things and their ship ends up on an island in the middle of nowhere. They manage to survive using each others' skills to their advantage. By the end of the sequel, Will is severely wounded and the group has not only discovered that notorious smugglers are based at the island, but also an abandoned American air force base from World War II and a hidden atomic bomb. In the final book, the team is still struggling to survive and are at deep risk of being found by the illegal smugglers. Eventually one of the kids get help from a marine’s base and help rescue the rest of the crew. Some pretty wonky plot twists here and there.
Overall a pretty good book that was simple and relatively fast read. The only thing I didn’t like were the characters, who basically through the entire series did dumb things. Only towards the end did their brain cells finally click and one kid carried the squad. I’m seriously surprised they are still alive but you know it’s probably the plot armor.

[January · Rating 4 out of 5]

Island: Escape by Gordon Korman (2001)
Island #3
2h 33m narrated by Holter Graham, 144 pages

Genre: Juvenile Fiction > Young Adult, Middle-Grade; Adventure

Featuring: Music, Dates, September 1945, WWII, July 2015, Marooned, near Guam, Young Delinquents, Charting A New Course Program, Survival Trope, Violence, Peril, Know-It-All, Athlete, Leadership, Team Work

Rating as a movie: PG-13

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½🏝🥥🌊🛩

My thoughts: 📱33% 50:14 Chapter 7 Day 19 9:45 AM - I knew it! The rest is unexpected but not far off.
📱62% 1:34:36 Chapter 13 Day 24 3:20 PM - I knew this was how they were going to get off the island but I didn't see this method, I guess it makes more sense than what I had in mind.

The ending was better than expected. My kid loved it. 5 stars for him. 3.5 for me.

Recommend to others: Sure, great for kids, but a bit on the mature side for violence.

Island
1. Shipwreck (2001)
2. Survival (2001)
3. Escape (2001)