Age 10+

In America, this novel was published as The Young Man and the Sea, inviting comparisons with Hemingway. Like Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, it is an interior monologue about the struggle of man (or in this case, boy) against nature — although Philbrick’s feelgood book has a much happier ending, as well as action, humour and suspense. It centres on 12-year-old Skiff Beaman, a fisherman’s son whose mother has died. Both Skiff’s father and his father’s boat are now sunk — the former into alcoholic depression. Skiff thinks that if he can raise the boat he can refloat his dad, but he needs $5,000. Sabotaged by the local bully in his effort to earn the money by catching lobsters, Skiff embarks on a dangerous seafaring adventure. Throughout, he is helped by a couple of old men of the sea and by his mother’s golden rules: think smart, speak true, never give up. He’s especially good at the last one, and triumphs over the elements, the bully and his father’s torpor. This book demonstrates Philbrick’s skill as an award-winning thriller writer for adults and, like his acclaimed Freak the Mighty, it is also emotionally affecting.

(Usborne £4.99)

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