The Great Wide SeaM. H. Herlong
Viking Juvenile (October 2, 2008)
2009 Texas Lone Star Award book
Fifteen year old Ben is still dealing with his mothers recent death in a car accident when his father suddenly sells their house and announces that he and Ben, along with his two brothers, will sail the Bahamas for the next year. Reluctant, but without many options, Ben and his brothers soon find themselves fighting to survive a fierce Atlantic storm after their father disappears overboard. They do survive only to find themselves stranded on a desert island with all that entails.
“Then I was alone again with the waves and wind. The sun was still high somewhere behind the thick cloud cover – it must have been early afternoon now of the second day – but here on the ocean, the light was dim and there was a new rhythm for me to learn. The race across the top of the waves, the foaming wake, the flying spray, the pull of the rudder against the tiller. Then everything getting slower and slower, quieter and quieter, as we slid down into the windless vacuum of the trough, yawing dangerously at the bottom before slowly climbing up to the top once more.”
This fast paced novel is compelling and moving for all, but particularly for fathers with great insight from the teenage perspective about a fathers love for his children.
“How can anyone be a dad? How can you do all the things you need to do – all day every day for a lifetime?...You saw us crying. You know we’re sad. He paused. I’ll tell you a story….Once upon a time, there was a man who was afraid. He felt safe in his study, but he was lonely. On an island nearby lived a beautiful woman. Sharks circled her island night and day, never resting. The man had a choice. He could close his door, learn not to think of her, and stay lonely. Or he could go outside and jump. He jumped….Its been that way with each of you, he said. The knowing about the sharks and the jumping anyway. Tonight and for a long time to come, your mom and I will be hurting. But we are not sorry we jumped.”
“Then I was alone again with the waves and wind. The sun was still high somewhere behind the thick cloud cover – it must have been early afternoon now of the second day – but here on the ocean, the light was dim and there was a new rhythm for me to learn. The race across the top of the waves, the foaming wake, the flying spray, the pull of the rudder against the tiller. Then everything getting slower and slower, quieter and quieter, as we slid down into the windless vacuum of the trough, yawing dangerously at the bottom before slowly climbing up to the top once more.”
This fast paced novel is compelling and moving for all, but particularly for fathers with great insight from the teenage perspective about a fathers love for his children.
“How can anyone be a dad? How can you do all the things you need to do – all day every day for a lifetime?...You saw us crying. You know we’re sad. He paused. I’ll tell you a story….Once upon a time, there was a man who was afraid. He felt safe in his study, but he was lonely. On an island nearby lived a beautiful woman. Sharks circled her island night and day, never resting. The man had a choice. He could close his door, learn not to think of her, and stay lonely. Or he could go outside and jump. He jumped….Its been that way with each of you, he said. The knowing about the sharks and the jumping anyway. Tonight and for a long time to come, your mom and I will be hurting. But we are not sorry we jumped.”
Rating: Paperback
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