An introduction

What do you think of when you hear the word island?

a tropical island a rocky island an island home

a spooky island an icy island

What is an island?

An island is a piece of land with water all around it.

Some islands are very big and have lots of people living on them.

Some islands are very small and have nobody living on them at all.

Have you ever been to an island?

Many people visit islands on their holidays. Some are far away, in hot places like Majorca. We visit them for the weather, the beaches and the scenery. Some are closer, in places like the Hebrides. The scenery and the beaches are lovely but the weather is colder.

Some people visit islands even though they don’t want to – why could this be?

Islands have been used as prisons – it is difficult to escape when there is water all around. This is Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay which used to be used as a prison. At one time there were 302 prisoners held here. This is Loch Leven Castle, built on a small island in the middle of Loch Leven near Kinross. Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned here for almost a year.

People have been shipwrecked on islands. Robinson Crusoe is a book written by Daniel Defoe about a man who was shipwrecked on a desert island and lived there for 28 years. It is thought to be based on the experiences of Alexander Selkirk who was shipwrecked on an island near Chile and lived there for nearly four years.

Do you know any other stories that take place on an island?

Would you like to live on an island? What would be different about living on an island? What kind of island would you like to live on?