January 1, 2002
Paulsen describes his adventures at sea with several boats he has owned, including the first, when he lacked sufficient sailing knowledge and got caught in a severe storm. Although the text defines most sailing terms and rigging mentioned, a labeled diagram or glossary would have been helpful. Paulsen's white-knuckle accounts will be most appreciated by readers who have sailing experience.
(Copyright 2002 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
September 15, 2001
Gr. 5-8. Paulsen's lifelong passion for the sea began when he was seven. His mother smuggled him on a troopship, where he witnessed a gruesome, unforgettable plane crash that killed several people. Several years later, the sea called him back, this time to excitement rather than tragedy. Paulsen traces his life at sea, from buying his first sailboat to getting lost in the Pacific to encountering sharks. In his usual Hemingwayesque style, with spare language and meticulously chosen words, he shares youthful adventures that seem as outsized as his ocean backdrop. His sometimes comic, sometimes near-fatal sea-going errors make for absorbing, captivating reading. The intelligently written, just-barely-over-100-page book will deliver a lot of punch to kids, including ones older than the target audience, who are seeking an easy-to-read volume that meets the minimum-length standards for book reports.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)
October 1, 2001
Gr 7 Up-On the coattails of Guts (Delacorte, 2001) comes another collection of Paulsen's autobiographical vignettes, this time about sailing. His love for the sea began at age seven, aboard a troopship headed to the Philippine Islands. A plane crashed into the water and Paulsen watched as sharks attacked the women and children. Though gruesome, the account is typical of the author's unaffected, matter-of-fact writing style. The rest of the stories are dull in comparison, however, as Paulsen chronicles his experiences with various sailboats over the years. He tries to define the sailing terminology as he uses it, but it is complicated stuff for landlubbers. His writing is adult in tone and he often looks back and reflects on his adventures. The passages about food, reminiscent of those in Father Water, Mother Woods (Doubleday, 1995), are better. When he describes the taste of double-stuffed Oreo cookies, readers taste them, too. It is quintessential Paulsen to describe the number one law of the sea: "If given a chance a container of oatmeal will open, mix with a container of coffee grounds, further combine itself with eight or ten gallons of sea water and then find its way into your sleeping bag." At book's end, Paulsen refers to his age and current heart condition but dangles a carrot in front of readers about a sailing trip around Cape Horn. Stay tuned.-Vicki Reutter, Cazenovia High School, NY
Copyright 2001 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.