Beyond the Bright Sea by Lauren Wolk

 

Beyond the Bright Sea

Bibliography

Wolk, Lauren. 2018. Beyond the Bright Sea. New York, NY: Dutton Children’s Books. ISBN 9781101994870.

Plot Summary

A girl name Crow was found in a small boat by a man she grew up to call Osh.  He raised her in the cottage he built by the sea from scraps on one of the Elizabeth Islands in Massachusetts.  When she got older, she started investigating where she came from, and eventually found out she was from the neighboring island of Penikese, and her parents were lepers who were sent to the island to be isolated from the rest of society.  They sent her away in a boat and pretended she died in the hopes that she would have a better life than her brother, who was sent to an orphanage and never adopted because of the stigma of being from the leper colony.  After several trips to Penikese Island, Crow, Osh, and their neighbor Miss Maggie, found the chest of treasure that Crow’s parents left for her, buried in her fake grave.  They also found a man, a criminal, who was after the treasure and attacked them on the mainland trying to get it.  Crow outwitted him, and he was arrested.  In the end, even though she still had family out there in the world somewhere, she decided her family was Osh and her home was the island.

Critical Analysis

The book was a coming-of-age story for Crow, when she starts feeling dissatisfaction with not knowing where she came from.  Finding out about her gave her a sense of self, and made her confident enough to stand up to those who had shown prejudice towards her for having leper parents.  She asserted herself and insisted on shaking hands with those who shunned her.  Even though she found out where she was from, it did not change who she was.  Osh and Maggie were still her family.

In terms of historical details, Penikese Island and the leper colony as well as Cuttyhunk was real, although Crow, Osh, and Miss Maggie were fictional.  Symbolism was also important in the book; Crow got her name not only from how she sounded crying when Osh found her, but also because of the feather-shaped birthmark on her face.  This feather symbol was important in finding the treasure buried by Crow’s parents.  The book also left some details left unknown that as a reader I wondered about, such as Osh’s real name or where Crow’s brother was.  We also never found out the nationalities of the main characters; we were told that Crow’s skin was darker than Osh or Maggie’s, but that was the only details we got.  In the end, it was a story about family being who you are with, not what is in your blood, so race did not matter.

Review Excerpts

2018 Scott O’Dell Award Winner

Horn Book Guide Starred, 10/1/2017 “An exceptional mix of historical fiction, physical adventure, and interiority; suspense, insight, and the natural world play equal parts.”

Voice of Youth Advocates Star, 6/1/2017 Kate Neff  “Wolk is a talented writer who draws the reader into Crow’s world and making the simple life on an island somewhere so appealing that readers will want to go. Crow is a strong and brave character who serves as a good role model for young readers.”

School Library Journal Starred, 5/1/2017 Christopher Lassen “This is a tear-jerking yet ultimately uplifting tale of establishing one's place in the world and realizing that sometimes your family is the one you make, not the one you are born into.”

Connections

Readers may also enjoy The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani, also about a girl trying to find her identity as a refugee 9780735228511, or Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk, set during World War II.  9781101994825