Windcatcher [Hardcover]

Avi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 1991

While learning to sail during a visit to his grandmother's at the Connecticut shore, eleven-year-old Tony becomes excited about the rumors of sunken treasure in the area and starts following a couple who seem to be making a mysterious search for something.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Newbery Honor author offers a potent brew of mystery and adventure in this tale of an 11-year-old boy involved in a search for a centuries-old shipwreck. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6-- Tony Souza, 11, uses his paper route earnings to buy a 12-foot sailboat that he takes with him when he spends part of the summer with his grandmother on the Connecticut shore. During his stay, he learns to sail and becomes intrigued by tales of buried treasure in the area. He and his grandmother learn more about the treasure, and he begins to piece together clues to its whereabouts. As he hunts, Tony encounters a couple who are illegally diving for the treasure, and they warn him away from their boat with an attack on his sailboat. After being lost in a storm, he puts together the final clues only to be captured by the villains and then, predictably, rescued in the nick of time. While this brief novel begins with a 1777 shipwreck that precipitates the modern story, the events of past and present are too neatly drawn together. The characterization and suspense of Avi's The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (Orchard, 1990) are absent here. Even so, for readers in search of an accessible adventure story, this will provide satisfaction. --Barbara Chatton, College of Education, University of Wyoming, Laramie
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing (March 30, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0027077616
• ISBN-13: 978-0027077612
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,250,064 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Avi has published more than sixty books. Among them is Crispin: The Cross of Lead, winner of the 2003 Newbery Medal. Other novels with nineteenth-century settings, like The Traitors' Gate -- his grand nod to the work of Charles Dickens -- are listed before the title page, and include the Newbery Honor Book, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. Avi and his family live in Denver, Colorado.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars JESSICA, November 5, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Windcatcher (Avon Camelot Book) (Paperback)

Do you love adventure so much you would risk your life just for a thrill? In the historical fiction, Windcatcher, by Avi, the main character Tony Souza would.
Tony is an 11 year old boy who lives in 1990's Connecticut. He worked for a whole year delivering newspapers and now he could afford anything he wanted. But what should he get? The moment he laid his eyes on the Snark, he knew. A "Snark" is a mysterious, imaginary animal according to Tony's dictionary, and described his new sailboat perfectly. It was the perfect time of year to buy a sailboat, too. It was the beginning of summer and he had to go for a long, boring, 21 day stay at his grandmother's house along the shore. Learning to sail would help pass the time and would surely be an adventure right?
When Tony gets to his grandma's house, he meets some interesting people. Christina, is an expert sailor who gives Tony his first few sailing lessons. During one of their lessons, Tony sees a couple with digging supplies. For some reason, this makes him uneasy and tries to find out what they're up to. What he finds is an unsolved mystery of a captain during the 1700's who was lost at sea along with a boat full of treasure. So adventure-loving Tony sets sail after the couple hoping to find out if they had discovered the long lost treasure. But an unexpected storm appears and throws Tony onto an island. Matters get worse when the couple kidnaps him from the island and try to get him even more lost for following them. How can Tony, an amateur sailor, find his way home alive?
I recommend this book to kids ages 10-13 who love historical fictions and adventures. I really enjoyed this book, but I wish it was a little longer. Windcatcher is a story about a boy seeking adventure and a way to save his life.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great, must read book, April 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Windcatcher (Avon Camelot Book) (Paperback)

I read the book Windcatcher, by AVI. I thought it was an exellant book. It had a lot of action and suspense, and the book kept you on your toes. The book was about a boy who went to his grandmothers house for the summer. He brong his brand knew sailboat to to her house. One day he went sailing and he gets stuck in a storm. Then he gets shiprecked on a small island off the coast. Some how he has to get back to the main land orbe found. To find the outcome of this book read Windcatcher. The book is realistic fiction. It is about 120 pages long. I would recomend this book to young readers.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fourth grade male teacher likes Windcatcher, November 16, 1998

By 

Paul (IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Windcatcher (Avon Camelot Book) (Paperback)

I've read Windcatcher with four or five classes of fourth graders. They all like say they like it, and they aren't afraid to tell me what they think. Tony Souza is a boy we all can identify with. After we learn the sailing jargon, we get involved with Tony's adventures. We also flash back in time to the Revolutionary War era to Captain Ezra Littlejohn and the payroll ship that sank in the area where Tony's grandmother lives. Will Tony find the treasure, and what kind of trouble will he encounter trying?? Good book.