After the sinking of a cargo ship claims the lives of his family, Pi is cast adrift on a lifeboat with a hyena, an orangutan, a zebra and a tiger as his sole companions. Keenly aware of the food chain, Pi cantilevers between hope and despair as he acknowledges that he too may be devoured if the tiger's voracious appetite is not fed. At the mercy of the sea, the two remaining seafarers face fierce storms, starvation and illness. Throughout the struggle for survival, Pi examines the resilience of human beings with his philosophical and theological beliefs. A Governor General Award for Literature finalist, this fantastical 227-day journey is a masterful weaving of the unbelievable and an examination of human nature.--Ministry of Education website.

English language arts 30 (2013). Originally published: 2001.