The book I read was Leaving Protection by Will Hobbs. This book is about a 16 year old boy named Robbie who leaves his home and family at Port Protection, flies to Craig by float plane to find a summer fishing job. In Craig a girl named Julie shows Robbie around and suggests a fisherman who owns a boat called the Storm Petrel. Robbie goes to wait around for the Storm Petrel captain but he is not aboard, then curiosity takes over and Robbie decides to climb aboard and look around. The Storm Petrel's captain (Tor Torsen) returns to find Robbie snooping around and tells him to get off his boat. Robbie thinks he has blown all chances of getting a job on the Petrel, but later that night the Storm Petrel's captain says he can come and work on his boat. Robbie learns that the Tor has been hunting and finding old and valuable Russian plaques left from the Russian explorers. After a few days on the boat, Robbie begins to worry that Tor might do something to him since he has found out about the Russian plaques. A powerful storm rolls in and challenges Robbie’s survival skills after Tor falls overboard trying to tie a broken trolling pole. Tor tells Robbie to gaff him in the shoulder and heave him aboard, Robbie tries and tries but finally Tor tells him to let go. Once Robbie gets back home he tells people the news and Tor's daughter, Grace, Grace decides that Robbie's family should have the boat, Tor would've wanted them to.
I thought the theme of this book is make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into. One example is Robbie climbed aboard a boat with no permission and got in trouble. Another one is Robbie went fishing with a man he didn't know and could've been dangerous, which he was. Robbie was put in danger when he found out about the antique Russian plaques that Tor didn't want him to know about. So you should always make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into.
This book reminds me a lot about our own town because it involves a lot of fishing, which our town is all about. This book was very realistic and had accurate details about fishing, the ocean, and the weather. I think fishermen would really like this book because it has so much about fishing. It had a lot about the Alaskan history of Sitka and many other places. I would recommend this book to anyone in any grade.
