Ghost Canoe (Audio Book)
 Will Hobbs, Read by Boyd Gaines
 (Reviewed by The Editor - Rebecca Brown)
 1999 Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Pub
  ISBN: 055352612X


Nathan MacAllister is the 14 year-old son of the Tatoosh Lighthouse keeper off Washington's Cape Flattery where shipwrecks are common. One of those ship carried Spanish gold ingots & the seafaring life of the Makah Nation is forever disturbed by treasure hunters & traders in this exciting Pacific Northwest adventure.

On the storm-tossed Tatoosh island, Nathan learns how to maintain the great new lighthouse while his mother sickens from the damp & cold. Their stores run dangerously low as winter storms prevent ships from re-supplying them & then there is a strange shipwreck.

Lighthouse George, a strong & dependable fisherman ferries the mail & small items out to the lighthouse in his canoe. He is also one of the great whaling men of the Makah Nationa & Nathan befriends him.

When Nathan's father decides to settle his mother on land among the Makah in hopes that her health recover, Nathan accompanies her & his life changes dramatically. He becomes Lighthouse George's student in canoeing, fishing & whaling; he becomes a trusted & sturdy paddler of the great canoes.

Meanwhile there are all sorts of rumors about a murder on board the ship before it floundered & of someone, something living in the caves along the Pacific shoreline. As Nathan wanders all over Cape Flattery exploring, he comes upon a canoe high in the branches & realizes he's stumbled into the Nation's sacred burial grounds.

When a robbery at the trading post makes the friendly owner sell out to a seemingly friendly stranger, things get bad between the Makah & the new trader who suddenly turns nasty.

Meanwhile Nathan watches the carvers of the great canoes, learns more & more about Makah customs & when the whales return a hunt is prepared for, Lighthouse George insists Nathan paddle in his canoe.

Ghost Canoe was a surprise for me as I sewed on my quilts & listened to Boyd Gaines' fine narration. There are some beautiful sound effects to this tale & a lusty description of the life & times of these First People as seen through the eyes of an inquisitive, respectful & honorable young man.

Ghost Canoe is not only a rousing nautical adventure, it is a heartwarming coming-of-age story, a lively mystery & a portend of things to come for this seafaring, courageous & spiritual people. I found this audio performance in the Junior section of our library yet it is as good a yarn, complete with history & insights as any for adults. Yes, it is brief & that is a lot of its charm - in its brevity it leaves that much more to our imagination!
(06/11/00)

Rebecca