Ben is 15 when his mother dies and his father decides to sell their house and buy a boat so the family can sail the world for a year.
Ben and his two younger brothers hate the idea--if there's anything they want it's for things to get back to normal as much as possible--but they have no choice. So they go along with their father on the trip they expect to hate, learning and doing things they expect to hate--and just when things seem to have settled into a sullen monotony they wake one morning, hours from land, to find that their father has disappeared and the boat has drifted off course.
Lost at sea with no way of finding their father, they soon find themselves in a violent storm: a 15-year-old, a 10-year-old, and a 5-year-old in a tiny old boat facing forty-foot waves....
The Great Wide Sea is a gripping and suspenseful adventure, even for readers with little interest in sailing. This year it was nominated for the Sunshine State Readers Award, Grades 6-8 along with some other very strong books.
