Fish

I got this for Emma based on a review on BoingBoing. She got into it right away and raced through it. It was killing her not to spoil it to me so I went behind her and knocked it out.

Great read. I'd recommend it for sure.

My 9-year-old son attended a reading by the author and we bought him the book. He read the first 100 pages the same day and finished it a couple days later. He loved it (loved it!) and wanted me to read it too. Fish tells the story of a 12-year-old Irish boy who ends up having an adventure among pirates. It reminded me of the kinds of stories I read back when I was 9 or 10 years old myself. It's fast-moving, easy to read, and it's easy to identify with the main character who is nicknamed Fish because he's such a good swimmer. I think it's an excellent book for someone my son's age, but feels a little tame and watered down to an adult reader. But again, on the plus side, the author works in some genuine pirate lore which keeps things interesting.