If you have been dreaming about or spending as much time as I have this summer swimming and sailing then this book list featuring stories of voyages and sea creatures might be just the thing to tide you over for the rest of the summer. Click the title to go the Library's online catalog, where you can place a hold or see if the book is current-ly available. (The tale may be watery, but we appreciate our books returned dry.)
SAILING, VOYAGES
The Great Wide Sea, by Madaline Herlong, 2008. Still mourning the death of their mother, three brothers go with their father on an extended sailing trip off the Florida Keys and have a harrowing adventure at sea. Adventure, Survival.
The Odyssey, by Gareth Hinds, 2010. Retells Homer's epic tale of Odysseus, the ancient Greek hero who encounters witches and other obstacles on his journey home after fighting in the Trojan War. Greek Mythology.
Graphic Novel.
Seaborn, by Craig Moodie, 2008. Craving "the Big Freedom," 16-year-old Luke resents being cooped up with his father on a small sailboat, but a sudden storm sweeps his father overboard, leaving Luke to figure out how to survive on a damaged boat in the Gulf Stream while dealing with his feelings of guilt. Adventure, Realistic Fiction.
Ship Out of Luck, by Neal Shusterman, 2013. Brooklyn-native Antsy Bonano embarks on the largest cruise ship in the world, where mischief, adventure, and deportation await. Third book in the
Antsy Bonano series. Realistic Fiction.
Stowaway, by Karen Hesse, 2000. A fictionalized journal relates the experiences of a young stowaway from 1768 to 1771 aboard the Endeavor which sailed around the world under Captain James Cook. Adventure, Historical Fiction.
Voyage of the Arctic Tern, by Hugh Montgomery, 2002. A simple fisherman betrays his village for a handful of jewels, a group of courageous Englishmen foils a traitorous Spanish pirate, and a lost soul seeks to redress an ancient wrong by finding a treasure chest. Verse Novel, Historical Fiction.
The Wanderer, by Sharon Creech, 2000. Thirteen-year-old Sophie and her cousin Cody record their transatlantic crossing aboard the Wanderer, a forty-five foot sailboat, which, along with uncles and another cousin, is en route to visit their grandfather in England. Adventure, Realistic Fiction.
Bad Island, by Doug TenNapel, 2011. After Reese and his family are stranded on an island during a boating trip, they discover the island is not what it seems when the island's lethal inhabitants come after them. Adventure,
Graphic Novel.
Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, 2001. After a cargo ship sinks in the Pacific Ocean, one lifeboat remains with the following survivors: a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker and Pi -- a 16-year-old Indian boy. As the "crew" begin to assert their natural places in the food chain, Pi's fear mounts, and he must use all his wit and daring to develop an understanding with Richard the tiger. Adventure, Suspense.
Nation, by Terry Pratchett, 2008. After a tsunami destroys all that they have ever known, Mau, an island boy, and Daphne, an aristocratic English girl, together with a small band of refugees, set about rebuilding their community and all the things that are important in their lives. Adventure, Fantasy.
Overboard, by Elizabeth Fama, 2002. Escaping from a sinking ferry in the waters off Sumatra, fourteen-year-old Emily fights for survival for herself and a young Indonesian boy, who draws courage from his quiet but firm Islamic faith. Realistic Fiction.
The Raft, by S.A. Bodeen, 2012. Robbie's last-minute flight to the Midway Atoll proves to be a nightmare when the plane goes down in shark-infested waters, but the real terror begins when the co-pilot Max pulls her onto the raft. Suspense, Realistic Fiction.
The Watch that Ends the Night: Voices From the Titanic, by Allan Wolf, 2011. Recreates the 1912 sinking of the Titanic as observed by millionaire John Jacob Astor, a beautiful young Lebanese refugee finding first love, "Unsinkable" Molly Brown, Captain Smith, and others including the iceberg itself. Historical Fiction,
Verse Novel.
The Wreckers, by Iain Lawrence, 1998. Shipwrecked after a vicious storm, 14-year-old John Spencer attempts to save his father and himself while also dealing with an evil secret about the English coastal town where they are stranded. First book in trilogy. Adventure, Historical Fiction.
MERFOLK
Ingo, by Helen Dunmore, 2006. As they search for their missing father near their Cornwall home, Sapphy and her brother Conor learn about their family's connection to the domains of air and of water. First book in
Ingo Chronicles series. Fantasy.
The Islands of the Blessed, by Nancy Farmer, 2009. Two years after their adventures in The Land of the Silver Apples, the apprentice bard Jack and his Viking companion Thorgil confront the malevolent spirit of a vengeful mermaid and begin a quest that casts them among the fin folk of Notland. Third book in
Sea of Trolls trilogy. Fantasy, Norse Mythology.
The Mermaid's Mirror, by L.K. Madigan, 2010. Lena, almost 16, has always felt drawn to the waters of San Francisco Bay despite the fears of her father, a former surfer, but after she glimpses a beautiful woman with a tail, nothing can keep Lena from seeking the mermaid in the dangerous waves at Magic Crescent Cove. Fantasy.
Monstrous Beauty, by Elizabeth Fama, 2012. In alternating chapters, tells of the mermaid Syrenka's love for Ezra in 1872 that leads to a series of horrific murders, and present-day Hester's encounter with a ghost that reveals her connection to the murders and to Syrenka. Historical Fantasy.
September Girls, by Bennett Madison, 2013. Vacationing in a sleepy beach town for the summer, Sam is pursued by hordes of blonde girls before falling in love with the unusual DeeDee, who compels him to uncover secrets about the community's ocean-dwelling inhabitants. Magic Realism Fiction.
PIRATES
Bloody Jack, by L.A. Meyer, 2002. Reduced to begging and thievery in the streets of London, a thirteen-year-old orphan disguises herself as a boy and connives her way onto a British warship set for high sea adventure in search of pirates. First book in 10 book series. Adventure, Historical Fiction.
Outcast, by John Flanagan, 2011. Hal, who does not fit into Skandian society, ends up in a brotherband, a group of boys learning the skills that they need to become warriors, with other outcasts, and they compete with other brotherbands in a series of challenges. First book in the Brotherband Chronicles series. Fantasy.
Pirates!: the True and Remarkable Adventures of Minerva Sharpe and Nancy Kington, Female Pirates, by Celia Rees, 2003. In 1722, after arriving with her brother at the family's Jamaican plantation where she is to be married off, 16-year-old Nancy Kington escapes with her slave friend, Minerva Sharpe, and together they become pirates traveling the world in search of treasure. Adventure, Historical Fiction.
Piratica: A Daring Tale of a Singular Girl's Adventure Upon the High Seas, Tanith Lee, 2004. A bump on the head restores Art's memories of her mother and the exciting life they led, so the sixteen-year-old leaves Angels Academy for Young Maidens, seeks out the pirates who were her family before her mother's death, and leads them back to adventure on the high seas. Adventure, Alternate World.
The Brides of Rollrock Island, by Margo Lanagan, 2012. On Rollrock the witch Misskaella knows how to draw a girl from the heart of a seal, and for a price a man may buy himself a lovely sea-wife. He may keep her, and he will tell himself that he is her master, but from his first look into those liquid eyes, he will be as transformed as she, and the witch will have her true payment. Fantasy.
The She, by Carol Plum-Ucci, 2003. After his parents are lost at sea, Evan Barrett and his older brother leave their seaside home in West Hook to escape bad memories, but years later even worse questions emerge when Evan is asked to help a fellow student deal with another sea-related tragedy. Adventure, Mystery.
Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits, by Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson, 2002. Presents six
short stories about the mythical creatures associated with the element of water. Adventure, Fantasy.
The Conquest of the Ocean: The Illustrated History of Seafaring, by Brian Lavery, 2013. Spans five thousand years of the ocean's history to tell the stories of the courageous individuals who sailed the seas for trade, to conquer new lands, and to explore the unknown, from the early Polynesians to the first circumnavigations by the Portuguese and the British.
Close to Shore: The Terrifying Shark Attacks of 1916, by Michael Capuzzo, 2003. Details the first documented cases in American history of sharks attacking swimmers, which occurred along the Atlantic coast of New Jersey in 1916. Adventure, Nonfiction.
Grayson, by Lynne Cox, 2006. The author describes how, while training for a long-distance swim off the coast of California, she encountered a baby gray whale that had become separated from its mother and had been following her instead. Also see:
Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer, by Lynne Cox, 2004.
Revenge of the Whale: The True Story of the Whaleship Essex,
by Nathaniel Philbrick, 2005. Recounts the 1820 sinking of the whaleship "Essex" by an enraged sperm whale & how the crew of young men survived against impossible odds. Based on the author's book "In the Heart of the Sea." Adventure, Nonfiction.
Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board, by Bethany Hamilton with Sheryl Berk and Rick Bundschuh, 2006. The teenage surfer who lost her arm in a shark attack in 2003 describes how she has coped with this life-altering event with the help of her faith, the changes in her life, and her return to the sport she loves. Autobiography.
Titanic: Voices From the Disaster, by Deborah Hopkinson, 2012. Tells the tale of the sinking of the Titanic using the narratives of the witnesses and survivors to the disaster. Nonfiction.
