Author: Rodman Philbrick
Genre: Children's Adventure
Rating: 4/5 stars
We read this as part of a study of the state of Maine, and I thought it was overall a very enjoyable book.
Skiff Beaman has just lost his mom, and his dad is in the depths of despair, just lying on the couch all day drinking beer. Skiff is mostly left to his own devices and cooks and cleans most of the time. Their boat has sunk, and Skiff wants to get it fixed so he can go fishing, but it's going to cost $5000. So, industrious child that he is, Skiff hatches a plan to set all his father's lobster traps. Unfortunately, a horrible bully named Tyler cuts the line on his traps, making it impossible for Skiff to earn enough money that way. So he decides to go after a Bluefin Tuna, since getting only ONE of the gigantic fish should earn him enough money. That's when the fun begins, as Skiff sets out alone into the ocean to get one...
Not a bad book all in all. I like that it gives a glimpse into the life a child living in Maine. The plot ends up being very exciting, and challenging issues (death, alcoholism, bullying) are dealt with in a good way. I love the themes of "never give up" and "use your head" also.
Some of the things I didn't like about this book are the language and the slowness in getting going.
There isn't any actual cussing, but the language is very "improper/incorrect" (lots of "ain'ts" for example) which always bothers me a lot (like in the Junie B. Jones books) since part of the reason I read to my kids is to expose them to proper, beautiful language. The other thing that was hard about this book was that the first 1/3 is heavy on boat terminology. My kids and I know absolutely nothing about boats, so their eyes tended to glaze over a bit, and it took just a little too long to get to the main part of the story in my opinion.
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