The Raft by S.A. Bodeen

by:  S.A. Bodeen
published by:  Feiwal & Friends
publish date:  August 21, 2012

Robie is an experienced traveler. She’s taken the flight from Honolulu to the Midway Atoll, a group of Pacific islands where her parents live, many times. When she has to get to Midway in a hurry after a visit with her aunt in Hawaii, she gets on the next cargo flight at the last minute. She knows the pilot, but on this flight, there’s a new co-pilot named Max. All systems are go until a storm hits during the flight. The only passenger, Robie doesn’t panic until the engine suddenly cuts out and Max shouts at her to put on a life jacket. They are over miles of Pacific Ocean. She sees Max struggle with a raft.

And then . . . she’s in the water. Fighting for her life. Max pulls her onto the raft, and that’s when the real terror begins. They have no water. Their only food is a bag of Skittles. There are sharks. There is an island. But there’s no sign of help on the way.

Normally, I read books closer to their publish date, but this book was way too tempting.  I love fight for survival books.  And stranded on a deserted island?  Oh yeah, that's right up my alley.  So, I let this book cut way ahead in line.
I read it and then my first thought was "I need to read that again".  It wasn't because it was really awesome, but because I was thrown off by the ending and wondered if the whole rest of the book could have made sense with the information given.  I don't want to give it away and ruin it for you, but it was rather important information.
Younger people, I suspect, will appreciate the ending more than adult readers, which is ok because it is a YA book.  I found it all to be YA appropriate, except for the fact that she's island hopping on planes without telling anyone really where she's going, but I guess there's a message in that as well.  If you do that, you'll end up stranded on an island with no food. 
This was the first book I've read by SA Bodeen.  I picked up The Compound at the Scholastic Warehouse sale.  I'm going to have to read it soon to see how it compares.