The Island

Two men are washed up on an island after a shipwreck. They do not know each other. One thinks, and draws maps. The other acts, and cuts wood. "He does not want help, just a little." "He does not know how to help, but he wants to be useful."

They light a fire so that someone will come and find them. What the fire means will not stay the same until the end.

The Island takes twenty minutes to read aloud, at ten or at fifty, and is made to be read again. It was first written for one reader, in ten copies made by hand. It is published now for those who care for others, who teach, who help for a living, and for those who live with them.

The digital edition has three parts: the tale, with twenty-three pictures; Read It Three Times, twenty-four questions on three levels, from understanding to discussion, with no answers given; and the workshop notebook, which shows the pictures that were set aside and tells how the others were made.

The pictures were conceived and directed by the author and made with an artificial intelligence program. The book says so, shows what had to be set aside, and asks what that is worth. Every picture carries a description for screen readers.

A free classroom guide, from upper elementary to college, is available on the author's page.

Steven Palanchuck is an internist in Québec. The Island is his first book.