FREE INTERACTIVE STORY · AGES 10–11
The Island That Drifted: a free interactive story
In the Floating Jungle, islands drift in the sky, joined by rope bridges. When the smallest island starts to pull away, taking a family’s home with it, our hero must choose between two clever but very different plans. Each path tests a different kind of teamwork.
- Reading age 11
- 2 short chapters, 2 choices and 4 endings
- About 2 minutes
- Adventure
Read the story
Choose your hero
Paint it your way
Chapter 1The widening gap
In the Floating Jungle, nobody walked on solid ground. The islands hung in the mist like green lanterns, and rope bridges stitched them together.
Finn had come to stay with Tala, whose family lived on the smallest island of all, at the very edge of the jungle.
But that morning, the bridge to Tala’s island was stretched tight as a bowstring. Overnight, the island had drifted a whole metre further away.
Tala’s grandfather studied the waterfall that poured off the island’s edge. “It’s losing water,” he said. “The lighter it gets, the higher and further it floats.”
The bridge-keepers wanted to cut the bridge before it snapped. Tala wanted to save her home. Both of them looked at Finn.
What happens next is up to your child
Which plan should Finn back?
Questions for grown-ups to ask
Did you spot it?
- EasyWhy was Tala’s island drifting away?Answer: It was losing water, so it was getting lighter and floating higher.
- MediumWhy did Tala’s grandfather look “stricken” when he saw the dam?Answer: He realised that his own dam, built for the garden, had caused the problem.
- HarderIn “A new home”, Tala’s grandfather says “A home is the people in it.” How does that change how Tala feels?Answer: It helps her see that leaving the island doesn’t mean losing her home, so she can let it go and even smile about it.
Talk about it
- Which ending was hardest for Tala? Which was best for everyone?
- In two endings, the problem was caused by a good idea with an unexpected effect. Can you think of a real example?
Words to talk about
- persuaded
- Convinced someone to do something by giving good reasons.
- stricken
- Suddenly very upset or shocked.
- channel
- A narrow passage that guides water where you want it to go.
- doubtful
- Not sure that something will work.
Reading it together
The Island That Drifted is written at Litsee’s reading level for age 11, the top of primary school. Its choices are genuinely hard: hold on or let go, remove a problem or share a resource. Each ending has a cost as well as a gain, which is worth noticing.
Talk about how characters change their minds: Tala starts determined to save her island exactly as it is, and ends up happy with something different. That kind of change is what makes characters feel real.
Afterwards, try a balancing experiment: float a small container in a bowl of water and add or remove water inside it to see how its weight changes how high it floats.
About this story
- Reading age
- 11 (ages 10–11). Written for Litsee’s reading level for age 11, where sentences are mostly 12–22 words long.
- Length
- 2 short chapters, 2 choices and 4 endings. Each way through is 300–318 words.
- Reading time
- About 2 minutes for a 11-year-old reading on their own, at Litsee’s pacing of 140 words a minute for that age. Reading aloud to your child is usually quicker.
- Book band
- Roughly Dark Red, if your child’s school uses book bands (schemes differ; see our book bands guide).
- Characters
- Tala, who lives on the drifting island, Tala’s grandfather, the bridge-keepers
- Theme
- Adventure