Waiting for May - Hardcover

Davey, Thyrza

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385247990 ISBN 13: 9780385247993

Publisher: Doubleday Books for Young Readers, 1989

Synopsis

A social worker wants Old Alec, who lives with his dog on the coast of Queensland, to move to a pensioners' home; but to escape such a fate, the old man decides to sail his broken-down old boat up the Barrier Reef, until a fierce storm and the friendship of a young boy change his mind.A social worker wants Old Alec to move to a pensioners' home, but to escape such a fate, the old man decides to sail his broken-down old boat up the Barrier Reef, until a fierce storm and the friendship of a young boy change his mind

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 2-5-- Old Alec Thomson refuses to bow to the wishes of the welfare worker and enter "a home for the senile." When his dog , Ben , bites the woman's ankle, she vows to remove him from his derelict beached houseboat by the beginning of May. Alec, with the help of a young neighbor, devises a plan to sail his boat up the Australian Great Barrier Reef, but before they can carry out their unrealistic scheme, a fierce storm virtually destroys the boat, and Alec lies unconscious after hitting his head. Ben delivers his master's walking stick to the neighbors, who then rescue the old man as well as the exhausted dog. In an ending that provides the only glint of hope in this downbeat story, the neighbors agree to open their home to Alec and Ben. A very dark typeface fights with the illustrations for readers' attention. The story is solid and involving, but the heavy, often gloomy, egg temp e ra paintings, some which seem to have been created to illustrate Old Testament verses, hold little appeal for children. --Ellen Fader, Westport Public Library, CT
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Doubleday Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0385247990
• ISBN 13: 9780385247993
• Binding: Hardcover