โ Scribed by Robb White
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
An adventure where three young protagonists (9-15 yr olds) face real challenges without any help from adults. Published in 1946, the story is set in a more rudimentary and less predictable โOld Floridaโ than what we know today โ a setting in which their challenges and some of the more caricatured characters are quite believable. The story takes us on a sailboat from the Atlantic Coast, across tropical Florida, by way of rivers, canals and Lake Okeechobee, and out to the shell strewn Sanibel and Captiva Islands on the Gulf. The boating theme is prominent right from the 2nd chapter. Some nautical terms left me in the dark, but I suppose that put me in a similar situation as the two younger characters who also find themselves suddenly thrown into this new nautical world.
The story is told exclusively from the children's points of view, never through the eyes of an adult, which I think effectively pulls the reader into their adventure. I also felt the straight forward narrative reflected a child's refreshingly uncomplicated mindset. Like in a legend or fairytale, I liked the way the children had to earn a better life than the one from which they were running away, by facing each new challenge however hard or even painful. Early on, one of the children is said to feel "a little afraid, a little as though everything they were doing was too big for them to do and they would have to stop." Who hasn't felt that way at some point? But they don't give up. They remain determined and courageous throughout.
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