From humorist, storyteller, and author, here is an exciting middle-grade adventure novel set in rural Alaska. Ivan and September Crane, ages 12 and 13, are left alone for a couple of weeks while their fisherman Dad is away at sea. In typical adolescent fashion, they quickly proceed to ignore his only two instructions—don't run down the batteries on the portable short-wave radio, their only means of communication, and don't cross the bay to town. Through a series of bad decisions they find themselves crossing Bag Bay in their skiff when they are suddenly overtaken by a sudden and fierce autumn storm known as a williwaw. Ivan and September must use every ounce of strength, courage, and ingenuity they posses to keep themselves afloat until help comes. Williwaw contains rich descriptions of Alaskan geography and wildlife. Its likable characters and taut suspense will keep readers riveted until the end.
Selected Audiobooks for Young Adults (American Library Association)
Excerpts
From the book
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Chapter 7
The morning fog was dense. So dense it felt almost heavy on Ivan's and September's heads as they made their careful way across the cove in the Aunt Nelda. Their world was cloaked so completely they hadn't been able to see the cabin from their own dock, and they'd lost sight of that too as soon as they'd shoved off. The stillness bordered on deadness--black water as shiny as a waxed table and no sound but the dull rattle of the oarlocks.
They knew Mooseburger's cabin was due west of theirs and the butter clam bed a little south of that. September sat in the stern holding a hand compass between them so that Ivan could watch their bearing as he rowed the short way over.
"I've never seen it this thick," he said, staring into a mist so formless that his eyes could find no focus.
September blinked away the same effect. "Me either. Everything seems so different--like we're not even real." She checked their heading again and was about to suggest a correction when the dory nudged quietly onto a soft bottom and swung to a stop.
"Weird," she said, and stepped over the side into a few inches of water. Paying careful attention to the depth of the water as she circled the boat, September came to the conclusion that they were not on a bar but on Mooseburger's mud flat--exactly where they wanted to be. "Let's go find Dad's butter clams."
Ivan climbed out with a bucket. He uncoiled the bowline and then followed September slowly into the murk. After only a few steps they found dry ground and the welcome sight of clams spitting all around their feet. "Good navigating," Ivan said.
"Hard to get lost in Steamer Cove." September smiled and leaned into the familiar smells and motions.
The scrape of their rakes and the clatter of clams hitting the empty bucket seemed a grating intrusion in the quiet mist. September felt self-conscious about it, knowing Mr. Berger was not far off. "Did you hear something, Ivan?" she asked.
Ivan stopped and listened. "No--wait--could it be? Yes...the sound of a video game. A video game in my future..." A grin stretched his face, and he cupped a hand around one ear. "Hello? Tech Patrol?"
September wasn't amused. "Ivan, you have got a one-track mind. It was your game addiction that started all this trouble. Now we can't even see the boat on the end of the line in your hand and you're ready to head across the bay for another video fix."
Ivan looked panicked. "Sep! You promised if it wasn't blowing we'd go. It's flat as a board out there. We've gone all the way to town by compass before!"
September held up her hands. "Okay, okay! Stop whining. We'll go. We have to. But remember, we're going to get the radios first of all. We'll go to the Dockside only if we have the money, the time, and the coast is clear. Deal?"
"Deal," Ivan said, relieved.
September looked back into the fog. "It would be nice if this lifted a little."
Suddenly she seized on movement in the near distance. She worked her eyes around in their sockets, not sure if it was just a trick of the fog. But it still moved, slowly and deliberately, toward them. "Ivan, look!"
Ivan turned, and they both stood rock-still. They could hear the grind of boots in gravel and then the sucking sounds of the mud grabbing at footsteps. A dark blot turned suddenly human as it came out of the mist not ten steps away. Mr. Berger, his black wool coat with the hood pulled around his face against the damp chill, stood wide-legged in his hip boots with a rifle cradled across his chest.
September went nearly faint with this picture out of her dream standing so close at hand. She even glanced around to...
Reviews
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Tom Bodett, sure-handed author and teller of wacky and poignant tales of life in Homer, Alaska, attempts an adventure story for children. Sadly, writing and narrating for a young audience demand different skills and sensibilities. Ivan and September Crane are waiting on their remote Alaskan island for the return of their fisherman father. Bored, and wishing to be more like town kids, Ivan hooks his video game up to the battery of the radio that is the only connection to any source of help. When the battery dies, the children try to replace it and get caught in a violent storm, nearly losing their lives. Bodett's laconic delivery, so well suited to his adult stories, is reduced to a drone here, largely due to the bombastic text. Too bad he was unable to translate his skills as a storyteller to this work for children. S.G. (c) AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine
Dallas Morning News...
"This gutsy, believable tale will have readers on the edge of their seats."
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