Aprendiz de Marinero

Gr 9 Up-In this gripping, first-person narrative, a 14-year-old leaves his home in Barcelona and persuades a ship's captain to hire him in return for passage to an island off the coast of Africa. The boy is searching for his uncle (the long-lost black sheep of the family) and also for adventure. To readers' delight, he manages to find both. In a parallel subplot, political intrigue threatens the well-being of the colonists on the island. The young hero, in a series of escapades, helps to thwart the villains' evil plot. The story line and the challenging vocabulary of this novel call to mind Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series (Norton) and should appeal to teens interested in adventure stories. There is also a surprise twist at the end.