Book Reviews
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I've been anxiously awaiting the opportunity to read Tommy Ellis Goes to Sea. I just finished it, and I loved it! This is a well-written and terrific adventure story, full of storm-tossed sea imagery and wonderful information about life on a North Sea fishing trawler. Exciting and scary and heart-warming, all rolled into one powerful story about a boy who goes fishing with his Dad, the skipper of the Stella Vega, a cod-fishing vessel. I had the pleasure of touring a fishing trawler when I was in Hull, England last year, and this book made that experience come to life for me. Thank you Jes Parkin for this wonderful coming-of-age story. I look forward to immersing myself into more captivating tales of Tommy Ellis and his adventures on the North Sea. Please tell me there will be more.
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A wonderful coming of age story about a young lad who goes to sea with his fisherman father, the skipper of a fishing trawler based in Hull, England. Interesting characters that draw you in to the harsh and dangerous life fishing in the North Sea, while endearing you to this obedient young who wants nothing more than to gain the approval and respect of his elders -- especially his father. How he succeeds in doing just that and the resultant bonding with his father is the main theme of the book. Tommy grows up in front of us and learns to love the sea in spite of its hardships.
You will want to read more from this author as I do.
Adventure On The High Seas
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This is a middle grade adventure about life as a trawler fisherman on the North Sea, once a bustling source of commerce in northern England. It's Tommy's twelfth summer in 1959 and he hardly knows his dad, because he's captain of the Stella Vega and away for three weeks at a time. As a nod to the boy's maturity, Captain Ellis brings Tommy along on an expedition and exposes him to salt of the earth crew and the countless dangers of trawling the high seas. Tommy befriends the "deck learner," another lad, but experienced, and they avoid two unsavories who appear to be hiding something. Well written, it's an insightful page-turner about a boy coming to admire his dad under extraordinary circumstance. We, the reader, get all the elements of a great read. Excitement from life and death threats, intrigue, knowledge about sidewinder trawling and the business of fishing, and an interesting character story to boot. This is a debut and I look forward to more from the author. My grandson is small yet and just becoming aware of "other lands," plus we're in land-locked Texas--but I can't wait to read this book with him!
ABOUT JES PARKIN
Jes Parkin was born in the 1950s in Kingston upon Hull, a large fishing community on the River Humber, in the North East of England.
Her father was a Radio Operator on the trawlers, which meant he would be away at sea for three weeks at a time, home for two days, then, back to sea again.
She missed her father when he was away and always looked forward to the precious time, although short, he was at home.
Her mother often took her and her sister to the fish dock to wait for her father’s trawler when he came home.
She has memories of waiting long hours on cold, dark winter nights on the quayside as one trawler after another came alongside before going through the lock and into the dock.
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