Attack of the Turtle - Hardcover

Carlson, Drew

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0802853080 ISBN 13: 9780802853080

Publisher: Eerdmans Pub Co, 2007

Synopsis

During the Revolutionary War, fourteen-year-old Nathan joins forces with his older cousin, the inventor David Bushnell, to secretly build the first submarine used in naval warfare.

About this title

About the Author

Drew Carlson is a former magazine columnist, newspaper reporter, corporate writer, and editor who currently works as the director of public affairs for the Federation of State Medical Boards in Dallas, Texas. Drew says his fascination with obscure facts from American history led him to write Attack of the Turtle, which is his first published novel.

From the Inside Flap

It's 1776, and the Revolutionary War is raging. Fourteen-year-old Nathan Wade is a patriot, but he's too young to join the fight. Then his cousin David Bushnell comes to town with a secret. David has designed a water machine that can explode bombs underwater. And his mission is to launch it against the British warships in New York harbor.

Nate reluctantly agrees to help David build the weapon of war -- dubbed the American Turtle. Although he's terrified of water and worried about getting caught, when unlikely circumstances put Nate at the center of the action, he must face the murky waters of his fears head-on.

Based on actual historical events, this adventure story captures the drama of the first submarine used in naval warfare and the struggles of a teenager overcoming self-doubt.

Reviews

At the story's opening in 1776, 14-year-old Nate fears two things: a swaggering local bully and (despite being a fisherman's son) water. When David Bushnell asks his help in building a secret weapon for the Continental army, Nate readily agrees, although he dreads crossing the Connecticut River to their hidden workshop each night. They finally journey to New York to deliver Bushnell's invention, the Turtle--a submarine designed to attach bombs to ships' hulls. There Nate tests his mettle under fire and even underwater. Sensitive, fine line drawings appear at chapter headings. As Carlson discusses in the appended author's note, the novel is based on actual events: although Nate's story is fictionalized, Bushnell did invent and construct the Turtle, the first submarine to be used in warfare. Though Nate makes for a sympathetic character and the plot is well constructed, the actual tale of the Turtle is quite involving, too. Readers intrigued by the history may also enjoy Arthur Lefkowitz's Bushnell's Submarine (2006) and Sally M. Walker's Secrets of a Civil War Submarine (2005). Carolyn Phelan
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Edition details

• Publisher: Eerdmans Pub Co
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802853080
• ISBN 13: 9780802853080
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Johnson David A.
• Number of pages: 149