The Nation's Choice: Theme Paperbacks Easy Level Theme 1 Grade 4 Abigail Takes the Wheel - Softcover

Houghton Mifflin Company

Softcover

ISBN 10: 061806236X ISBN 13: 9780618062362

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin School, 2000

Synopsis

Collision in the Harbor! Abigail and her brother, Tom, travel to school every day aboard their father's freight boat, the Neptune. One day, two ships collide in the Narrows, and Abigail's father goes to their aid--leaving Abigail to take the Neptune's wheel. Can she and Tom steer the freight boat through the crowded and dangerous waters of New York Harbor alone?

About this title

About the Author:

Avi is the author of more than sixty books, including Crispin: The Cross of Lead, a Newbery Medal winner, and Crispin: At the Edge of the World. His other acclaimed titles include The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle and Nothing But the Truth, both Newbery Honor Books, and most recently The Seer of Shadows. He lives with his family in Colorado.

Don Bolognese is the illustrator of many popular books of historical fiction, including the I Can Read Books Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express by Eleanor Coerr and Wagon Wheels by Barbara Brenner. He lives in New York City and Vermont.

From Kirkus Reviews:

PLB 0-06-027663-0 In the I Can Read Chapter Book series, Avi returns to some surefire ingredientsa girl and the boat she eventually pilotsthough for a far younger audience than that for The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. Every day, Abigail Bates, brother Tom, and their father, Captain Bates, leave Old Port, in New Jersey, in their paddle wheel freight boat and home, the Neptune. On board is a load of fresh vegetables intended for buyers in New York City, 20 miles up the Hudson. One morning, as they leave Old Port, two sailing ships collide; Captain Bates offers to tow one of them to New York, but under harbor law, he has to take her wheel. He leaves first mate Mr. Oliver to pilot the Neptune, but Mr. Oliver becomes ill and hands the wheel over to Abigail. Scared but game, Abigail navigates the two ships through the busy river traffic, barely escaping another collision and ingeniously maneuvering the stricken sailing ship to safe berth. Predictably, for her courage and skill, she is made an honorary captain. Abigail is a spunky heroine cast in a sturdy story; the suspense will hold readers just ready for chapter books. The surprise in the competent illustrations, which conjure the late 19th-century setting, is the insertion of some unexpected diversity in the casting of the first mate. (Fiction. 8-10) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin School
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 061806236X
• ISBN 13: 9780618062362
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 64