Leaving Protection - Softcover

Hobbs, Will

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0756951216 ISBN 13: 9780756951214

Publisher: PERFECTION LEARNING CORP, 2005

Synopsis

From the author of Far North comes this story about a 16-year-old boy whose dream of working on a salmon boat in Alaska's outside waters turns into a nightmare.

About this title

Review

Though Protection is Robbie's Alaskan port where his family works at subsistence fishing, he leaves his safe childhood when he becomes the mysterious Tor's deckhand. Known for a successful salmon fishing business but not his discovery of historical treasures buried along the Alaskan coast, Tor barely reveals himself. Either the silence scares Robbie into fearing for his life, because he knows about Tor's secrets, or Hobbs has insufficiently villainized Tor, but the only proven danger is slippery decks and high winds. None of the characters are convincing and most of the text is problematic. First-person narrator Robbie flips from present to past tense, using the present to explain fishing and past tense to describe his adventure, most of which is slow and laborious. Light characterization, in combination with slow text, harms the reading experience, until the final monster storm, when past and present meld together into a fiery pitch with a sugary denouement. In a final word, Hobbs provides background information and further reading suggestions. For patient fishing enthusiasts who are willing to wait for a final thrill. (Fiction. 9-12) (Kirkus Reviews)

About the Author

Will Hobbs is the award-winning author of nineteen novels, including Far North, Crossing the Wire, and Take Me to the River.

Never Say Die began with the author's eleven-day raft trip in 2003 down the Firth River on the north slope of Canada's Yukon Territory. Ever since, Will has been closely following what scientists and Native hunters are reporting about climate change in the Arctic. When the first grolar bear turned up in the Canadian Arctic, he began to imagine one in a story set on the Firth River.

A graduate of Stanford University, Will lives with his wife, Jean, in Durango, Colorado.

Edition details

• Publisher: PERFECTION LEARNING CORP
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0756951216
• ISBN 13: 9780756951214
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 178