Chanda's Secrets, by Allan Stratton. Annick Press, 2004

It's hard to know where to start in describing this powerful teen novel.  I downloaded the MP3 version last summer via the SYNC program, and just listened to it a couple of weeks ago.

Chanda is a young teen in South Africa who is faced with adult matters and decisions. Her father and brothers have died, and her mom has moved the remaining family to a different town and has remarried. In this new town, Chanda must confront the realities of AIDS and learn to deal with loss, death, and attitudes towards it all.  Her voice is real, young, questioning, and ultimately strong. I believe it is a novel every young person should read, as the attitudes and feelings, coping strategies and personal weaknesses apply to many other situations kids encounter.

Captains Courageous, by Rudyard Kipling. Amereon House, 1896, c 1897.

I read this classic in prepartion for July's Classic Movie Night @ Central Library. As a teen, I saw the movie and fell in love with the story, and especially the character of Manuel, the Portuguese fisherman, but have never actually read Kipling's novel.

Kipling, best known for The Jungle Books and Kim, among others, spent four years in the United States, and made four visits to Gloucester during that time. He was captivated by the colorful characters, language and way of life of the fishermen, and decided there was a compelling story just waiting to be written. He put Kim on hold until Captains Courageous was completed. The research for this book took him about two weeks.

Harvey Cheyne, a spoiled rich kid, is expelled from school for troublemaking. His father takes him on a transatlantic voyage in an effort to "bond" with him and set him on a better path. An on-board prank causes him to fall overboard as the liner crosses the Grand Banks, and Harvey is rescued by Manuel, of the Gloucester fishing schooner We're Here. After unsuccessfully attempting to bribe the Captain to return immediately to New York, Harvey is unwillingly schooled in the ways of a Gloucester fisherman's way of earning a living.

I didn't find the novel as engaging as the movie, but, after reading it, I understood the movie far better. Character development is much better in the book, as are descriptions of Harvey's relationships with the crew members and what he learns from the Captain and others. Kipling attempts to capture the accents of the fishermen and throws in much fishing jargon, which is explained in context in the book, but not in the film. And finally, some elements of the book are changed for the movie: Harvey's age is 15 in print and 10 in film, and his mom is alive in print and deceased in film, and his dad owns a private rail car in the book, but flies by air in film. The character of Manuel in the film plays a much greater role than in the book, due to legal restrictions at the time (1937) regarding depictions of certain occupations (priests) in a derogatory manner in film. I am glad I finally took the time to read Captains Couragous after all these years.