The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann WyssThe Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss is the story of a family shipwrecked on an uninhabited island. The ship was being tossed by furious waves. The entire crew and captain had abandoned ship only to die at sea. Only the Robinson family remained on board. When the storm passed, they discussed how to get to shore. After much thought, they built a kind of raft large enough for a family of six, taking with them the things that might be useful. Once on land, they began to look for food and prepared a place to sleep. The next day, the father and his eldest son, Fritz, went into the forest to further explore the island. They found food such as sugar cane, potatoes and figs. The father, Fritz and the other two sons, Ernest and Jack, built a sort of tree house where the family could sleep. Dad and Fritz returned to the wreck to get supplies and took with them all the animals they had left on board. The two dogs, which they called Juno and Turco, would have been watchdogs, the cow would have been good for milk, the sheep for wool, the donkey for travel and the chickens for eggs. The family soon learned that there were other animals on the land because they had to hunt for food. There were penguins, lobsters, oysters, agoutis, monkeys and jackals. Fritz got a baby monkey and named him Knips and Jack got a young jackal, who he named Fangs. Mother planted roots for lemon, apple and pear trees. The more the Robinsons explored the woods, the more they found things that would make life easier. They soon discovered a kind of wax berries which they melted and made into candles. They even found a huge salt cave! The cave was big enough for them and their supplies, so they moved in, because the rainy season was coming quickly. They built stables for their animals, a canoe and a loom for their mother. The Robinsons were very creative. They turned the worst situation into something good, and before they knew it, they were living on that desert island for ten years! They knew the island like the back of their hands and father and mother watched their children grow into adulthood as they too grew up..