Ken Catran: Seal Boy

Ken Catran's latest book for young readers is an exciting coming-of-age story set mostly in New Zealand and the Chatham Islands during the 1840s.

Emmet is the privil-eged, pampered grandson of a wealthy Bostonian shipping merchant. While visiting the wharves with his grandfather, Emmet is accosted by a group of boys who steal his clothes and his money, and leave him unconscious.

An old sailor rescues him but it turns out that Silas Cramp has no intentions of returning Emmet to his grandfather, and once again the boy is assaulted.

However this time when Emmet regains consciousness he finds himself on board the Absalom, a whaling ship bound for New Zealand.

Neither the captain nor the crew believe that Emmet is the grandson of Emmet J. Taylor snr. Instead they assume that he is a lowly clerk who is running away after stealing money from his employers.

Life on a 19th-century whaling ship is tough going for this pampered young gentleman, who is used to the finest foods and the softest beds.

The other sailors, who see Emmet as being simply weak and lazy, initially bully him and laugh at his inability to cope with the food, the work and the seasickness.

Gradually Emmet proves to them and to himself that he is just as good a sailor as they are, but he must first resort to using his fists before he is fully accepted by the crew.

A young Maori harpooner, Patu, joins the ship at the Marquesas Islands. After Emmet saves his life during a whale hunt the two become friends, despite their very different backgrounds.

Once the Absalom reaches New Zealand and berths at Kororareka, a settlement catering mainly for whalers and sealers, Patu leaves to join his whanau. Before he goes, he gives Emmet his lucky harpoon head and warns him to leave Kororareka as soon as possible as trouble is brewing.

Sure enough conflict between the townsfolk and local Maori breaks out that night and in the confusion Emmet finds himself on board the Betsy Bright, a sealing ship.

The ship's ruthless captain decides that Emmet is worth more to him dead than alive and almost succeeds in murdering the boy. Emmet escapes and finds refuge on a rugged island, inhabited only by seals and sea birds.

This section of the Seal Boy is not unlike The Island of Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell, another classic story of survival.

The boy must battle starvation, illness and loneliness as well as the constant threat posed by the sealers to both Emmet and the seal family he adopts.

Seal Boy is both a superb historical adventure story and a timeless account of a boy's journey to manhood. It is rich in historical detail and yet these facts never get in the way of exciting storytelling.

Instead, they are seamlessly integrated into the plot. Emmet's love of wildlife makes him a contemporary hero and his character is sure to appeal to young readers.

Author Ken Catran is a prolific writer of books for children and young adults, as well as being a scriptwriter for television.

While his earlier titles often had a science fiction focus, over the past four years many of his books have had their basis in historical events.

Voyage with Jason, his novel about Ancient Greece and Troy, was named Book of the Year at the 2001 New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards.

Catran was also a finalist for this award in 2002 with his novel, Letters from the Coffin Trenches, which is set in Europe and New Zealand during Worl War I.

He was again shortlisted this year in the Young Adult Fiction section of the New Zealand Post Book Awards with his 19th-century gold rush novel, Lin and the Red Stranger.

Publisher: Random House

Price: $16.99

Age: 10-plus

Recommended by: Dorothy Vinicombe