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The Voyage of the Frog
The Voyage of the Frog
Author: Gary Paulsen
Slowly, David opened his eyes and looked around the horizon, wincing again with the new movement. There was nothing sticking above the water as far as he could see.He was alone. Fourteen-year-old David Alspeth intended only to fulfill his uncle's last wish when he set sail in the Frog, but when a savage storm slams into the tiny sailb...  more »
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ISBN-13: 9780440403647
ISBN-10: 0440403642
Publication Date: 10/1/1990
Pages: 141
Reading Level: Young Adult
Rating:
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 15

3.5 stars, based on 15 ratings
Publisher: Yearling
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio Cassette
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review
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hardtack avatar reviewed The Voyage of the Frog on + 2686 more book reviews
A great story for young readers. The night he was almost run down by a tanker, reminded me of a night in the Atlantic when I was at the helm of a sailboat headed back to shore.

I wasn't the captain by any means, just a passenger. But my girlfriend and I had the duty and all we had to do was follow a compass direction. The sails weren't set, we were using the motor, so the captain could get some sleep. But when the freighter appeared in the dark coming toward us, I got more than a 'little' nervous. Fortunately, we weren't on the same track. Funny, I haven't thought about that night in decades.

The book is a typical Paulsen. A youngster gets in a bad situation and uses his wits to learn a way out of it. Still, I wondered how his parents let a 14-year-old sail out of sight of land at night by himself, even if he was fulfilling a promise to his uncle. But then, it is a novel.
havan avatar reviewed The Voyage of the Frog on + 138 more book reviews
Fourteen-year-old David Alspeth has lost his favorite uncle to cancer. The uncle that taught him to sail and who had left him the Frog, his 22 foot sailboat. His last request is that David take his ashes to sea and dump them out of sight of land. In his grief David fails to plan ahead and carelessly sets sail at night without proper preparation. When David encounters a Pacific storm he realizes that he's not properly prepared to meet what the Pacific (or life) is throwing at him.

I thoroughly enjoyed this but then I'm always a sucker for sea stories. Given the themes, it's not surprising that some critics say that this is just a retelling of the Hatchet tale, and there are many, many similarities but I felt that this was overall, a better Bildungsroman than Hatchet was. Perhaps its just that I have more in common with a sailor than an air crash survivor, but I felt that threats were present without the time consuming scrambling for survival, giving the protagonist more time for reflection. In the end it's a kinder gentler coming-of-age story than Hatchet and I'm surprised it hasn't gotten more of a following as it has more that most young readers could identify with.

If you read Hatchet and enjoyed it, by all means check this out. And if you're a young sailor you definitely should read this.
reviewed The Voyage of the Frog on + 5 more book reviews
My middle school aged boys loved this book.


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