Stranded series by Jeff Probst and Chris Tebbetts

A family vacation becomes a test of Survival!

It was supposed to be a vacation - and a chance to get to know each other better. But when a massive storm sets in without warning, four kids are shipwrecked alone on a rocky jungle island in the middle of the South Pacific. No adults. No instructions. Nobody to rely on but themselves. Can they make it home alive?

A week ago, the biggest challenge Vanessa, Buzz, Carter, and Jane had was learning to live as a new blended family. Now the four siblings must find a way to work together if they're going to make it off the island. But first they've got to learn to survive one another.

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This is the first installment in the series that brings the excitement and peril of the Survivor TV show to junior fiction.  An adventure series perfect for grades 4-7, readers can follow along with with the four kids as they learn to know and trust one another, and as they discover that you can't always predict how you will react to a disaster.  This quick moving adventure begins a few day into a bonding boat trip (that isn't going very well), but soon not getting along is the least of their worries.  A large storm threatens their safety on the boat and soon enough they are fighting for their lives. They will have to learn to listen and work together. They will find out which of them has the skills they will need and that stubbornness and ego can be as dangerous as their strange surroundings. Soon they will discover if they are strong enough or smart enough to survive being stranded alone on a jungle island.

Stranded 2: Trial by Fire continues the adventures of Vanessa, Buzz, Carter and Jane.  The boat wreck they were using for shelter has been washed out to sea with many of their supplies.  Now they have to start over finding shelter, food and water.  |There are dangers on the island and many challenges...getting along and work as a team being a big one..wild boars and trying to make fire are among the others.

Stranded 3: Survivors

The third installment finds shipwrecked siblings still fighting to survive.  Eleven days down, and no end in sight. It’s been days since Buzz, Vanessa, Carter and Jane were stranded on a deserted island in the middle of the South Pacific. Four kids left to fend for themselves. No adults. No supplies. They have managed to make fire and even found food. But they’ve just lost their only shelter, and quite possibly their one chance at being rescued. Now they’ll have to venture even deeper into the jungles of Nowhere Island just to stay alive. But the island holds secrets of a dark past. With danger lurking at every turn, they must rely on each other like never before it they are going to survive.

The Gardener by S. A. Bodeen

Mason has never known his father, but longs to. All he has of him is a DVD of a man whose face is never seen, reading a children’s book. One day, on a whim, he plays the DVD for a group of comatose teens at the nursing home where his mother works. One of them, a beautiful girl, responds. Mason learns she is part of a horrible experiment intended to render teenagers into autotrophs—genetically engineered, self-sustaining life-forms who don’t need food or water to survive.
Mason isn't supposed to know about the Greenhouse. He isn't supposed to meet the beautiful girl who is part of the experiment, and who doesn't need food or water to survive.

Now, Mason is on the run with the girl. And the mysterious mastermind of this gruesome plan, who is simply called the Gardener, wants them both, dead or alive.

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The Gardener explores themes of world hunger, the ethics of scientific experimentation, social responsibility and the power of the individual. I wasn't able to make much of a connection with the characters in the book.  The themes and plot took up most of the writing, leaving the characters merely as a thin way to transport the story.  Mason falls for Laila much too quickly and is entirely too eager to look past her oddness, strange history and risk his life for her. The villain of the book was non-existent for most of the chapters and thr confrontation came about rather easily, especially after such a long build up.   More time needed to be spent on this introduction so that, as readers, we could become invested in Mason and care about his quest and his well being. Without this, I was interested in what had happened to Laila and how Mason was connected to her story, but I found myself skimming rather than reading.  I am coming to discover that as unique as a plot or setting may be, without excellent characters to hold me inside a story I quickly lose interest. I need to feel for my characters and become involved in their journey.