Customer Reviews

Runaways on the Inside Passage

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

There are some spoilers below!

I had some very mixed feelings about this book. I really enjoyed the nautical and adventure portions. This was obviously written by someone who has been there and done that. You felt as if you were really there. He had some excellent imagery yet I thought it needed a stronger climax with some real danger thrown in.

I did have problems with other aspects of the story. First of all, it felt like a book I would have read as a kid in the `60's or `70's (I kept looking at the copyright date to verify that it hadn't been written then!) but with some jarring modern day references. It was just an odd combination of old fashioned story with issues of today thrown in. For example, I found it hard to believe that every time the kids went someplace or turned on the radio they would hear news about themselves (made me think of Gilligan's Island!). They were runaways not in obvious danger. In real life, how often do we hear about kids like this much less recognize them yet everyone seemed to be aware of these two runaways.

Another problem I had was that with all the adults they ran into, not one of them made any serious attempt to stop them! I mean here we have two obviously inexperienced kids who barely knew an anchor from a steering wheel and an old man on his last legs and not one responsible adult thought it was a bad idea to let these people head out into some of the most treacherous waters around and in horrific weather!? Talk about irresponsible!

I also had issues with character development. In a story like this, you expect your main characters to grow and become stronger after their ordeal. In the beginning, Annie was the tough one, willing to take charge and go for it while David was more timid. By the end, it seemed like David had become the Man of the Boat doing all the tough stuff and Annie was spending more time in the galley. I felt she hadn't made much progress. I also was very put off by the part where Annie is nearly molested in the shower. OK, this girl has already said once that she didn't want to go back to foster care because some guy had made moves on her. She was fully aware of the kinds of things that could happen to young girls yet she had no problem going into a scuzzy bar full of sleazy, drunken men and ask to take a shower!? After her earlier experiences, her Creepy Guy alarms would have been going full blast and then to have her say later on that she just didn't think she had to worry about stuff like that, well of course she knew she had to! That's the reason she gave for not going back into foster care.

So, I enjoyed the adventure, the locale and nautical aspects of the book but found other parts in need of work. However if you want an old fashioned adventure but can look past the flaws, this isn't a bad story!

Have you ever wanted to run away to Alaska? Well that's what these kids did! In Runaways on the Inside Passage by Joe Upton 13 year-old twins David and Annie are abandoned by their mother and they decide to sail to Alaska in search of their father with help from Lars, an old family friend. What happens when Lars becomes ill and the Coast Guard goes after them? Will they make it to their father's home alive?

This is a great book for children of all ages! I highly recommend it. The way it is written it is like you are there on the boat deck looking out at the high seas. It is action-packed and makes almost any other book pale in comparison to this one. You learn a lot about sailing and the lengths people will go to in search of a family. If you read this book you will find out about love, kindness, and teamwork through the perspective of two 13 year olds.

This book is completely amazing!

I bought this book for my [...] grandson but thankfully, I decided to read it before I gave it to him. I have discarded the book. There is an episode where a dirty old drunk with evil thoughts pulls off the towel of the teenage girl who just stepped out of the shower. This is totally inappropriate reading material for young readers. There are also two other similar references. The book should be pulled off book shelves.

Every "Books for boys" program I have attended lately emphasizes technology, non-fiction, hands-on how-to-do-it stuff. It's in here. For the boy who is being forced to read fiction by a well-meaning teacher, this is great. I found the loss of tension at the ending to be a little less satisfying than the rest of the book but in general I will recommend this to my library users, young and old, male and female, who are looking for something with things to learn, in addition to story.

Anyone who has read Joe Upton's other books knows that he has forgotten more about the sea and its changing moods than the reviewer from the School Library Journal will ever begin to understand. If the language is a bit challenging, so much the better. Kids love this book!

The author of this book knows all to well what can go wrong on a trip to Alaska in the dead of winter. He also knows that a pair of plucky teenagers can plausibly make the trip by themselves with a little advice from an old fisherman too sick to leave his bunk and some well-timed good luck.

The thirteen-year-old brother and sister who make this trip have just enough Indiana Jones bravado and resourcefulness to meet the challenges and not so much that they are no longer believable. They experience, as have generations of fishermen, the very real fear of battling winter storms, the delicious peace of a safe haven after harrowing days at sea, and the warm but gruff hospitality of the people who live in the remote communities along the British Columbia and Alaska coast.

"Runaways on the Inside Passage" is a nice mix of real situations and fiction that piles one adventure after another and brings the crew of a Foss tug towing a barge across the Queen Charlottes just in time to make sure this novel reaches a happy ending.