Beyond the Bright Sea Paperback – September 18, 2018

historical information on peoples lives not known beforeloved how the author told the story from font to back

We read this with our 6th grade class and they loved it.

Read it as a bedtime story

It was well thought out but not good enough to read twice

Wow. Just wow.Okay, Lauren Wolk. You win. Wolf Hollow as a gorgeously dripping freshman debut? Check. Beyond the Bright Sea, your sophomore book, is (in my humble opinion) even better than your first? Check. Never one to "write down" to her readers, every word is meant to be savored. Every line to linger and ruminate over. Any and all writers and want-to-be-writers should take a note. How to develop sympathetic characters=check. How to create a community with equal parts eccentricity and bonding=check. How do entice your readers to keep reading with little glimpses of foreshadowing=check. I mean, how can you NOT love Osh after this section (and, hello...let's teach inference along with it) "When I finally knew him well enough to ask, he told me he had taken just one leg from each of them, to flavor the rainwater he cooked on his fire. 'Better to have only four legs than to be dead,' he said. 'Better to eat starfish soup than starve.'"And how can you NOT love Crow after reading this line?"In fact, I was glad to know something not everyone did: that there are better bonds than blood."I'm counting the days until Wolk's next release.Wow. Just wow.

I bought the book for my grandson because I liked the author's previous book and because of the good reviews. I make it a point to read all the books I get for him because a) I like literature for young people and b) we enjoy sharing our views on the books.He gets "first read" most of the time. And he sped through this book -- a definite sign of approval. When I picked it up, I found out why he was so excited; I couldn't put it down either.It would be unfair to discuss the book beyond what you will have already seen in the Amazon listing. The story is rich in detail and will keep the reader guessing and hoping.(There is, however, one exception, but it won't be a spoiler. I could sense throughout the book that the author was considering an alternate ending to the story, a slight thread that wasn't tied off. It didn't need tying -- the story is complete as is -- but there is a possibility of a sequel now, one that deals with that other possibility. I hope there is one.)

Beyond the bright sea is an excellent example of a young girl trying to find herself. The character development of Crow throughout the book makes it all the more interesting. It also looks at the great viewpoint of someone who was claimed to have a disease and how people looked at her. The book is a wonderful read and I recommend it

A wonderfully crafted novel set in the Elizabeth Islands off the coast of Massachusetts in the 1920's. Crow came to the island as a newborn baby, set adrift in a tiny skiff and launched into the sea. Taken in by Osh, the only man living on the small island where her skiff comes to rest, she grows up wondering about her past. She is happy with her life, with Osh and Miss Maggie who lives across the sandbar in nearby Cuttyhunk Island but most islanders keep away from her, fearing she might be from Penikese which not long before had been a leper colony. This fear and rejection leads Crow into deeper digging about what secrets are held in her past. As Crow finds out answers to these secrets, danger comes closer and closer to her beloved island and to the people she holds dear.I was a big fan of Lauren Wolk's previous novel, Wolf Hollow and she did not disappoint with Beyond the Bright Sea. The characters are wonderfully developed and the setting is vibrant, wild and beautiful. She is a master storyteller and I look forward to other books in the future.