Wanderer Author:S. Creech, Sharon Creech Read by John Beach and Dana Lubotsky — 4 hours 18 minutes, 3 cassettes — Thirteen-year-old Sophie is the only girl among the surly crew of her three uncles and two bothersome cousins on a small sailboat bound for England to see her Grandpa Bompie. Through Sophie's and cousin Cody's travel logs, the amazing experiences of these six wanderers and th... more »eir perilous journey unfold. For Sophie, the true journey is into her past — as she unlocks the pain she has been hiding from herself and learns that she does truly belong to a family.« less
this is a story about a 13 year old girl who goes on a voyage and has many great adventures this book is great for teen adults and even younger readers such as 5th and 4th grade boys or girls.
From the jacket flap: "....an adventure-filled story of a courageous girl's journey across the ocean and into the memories of her past. Sophie's struggle to reclaim who she is inspires similar exploration from those around her--as the crew discovers the joys and trials of belonging to a family."
Sharon Creech is always a good children's/YA read, and this one tells the story of Sophie's adventure sailing across the Atlantic from the US to Ireland on a 40-foot sailboat with her three uncles and two cousins. They must all learn to get along and deal with each other's quirks of personality, besides surviving the storms encountered during the crossing. It's a great coming of age story, nothing fancy or spectacular, just good solid writing.
The book is aimed at readers around 12, I'd say - but it's a really well-done, affecting story, about a young girl who insists on being included on a very DIY yacht trip involving extended family, and with the goal of visiting a grandfather who's moved to England. Strangely, however, although the girl is eager to meet this man, the other family members seem convinced that she's never met him before, as she's adopted - something which she seems to be reluctant to admit. No one is quite sure how to react to her enthusiasm for telling her grandfather's "stories" to pass the time on the boat, either. But through a trip filled with adventures and danger, the embers of this family all get to know each other better than they expected, and to face things about themselves. Every character in the book, child or adult, is psychologically realistic and extremely well-realized, and the narrative device of switching first-person journals, one by the girl and one by her boy cousin, is extremely effective as well.
