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The Wanderer

by Sharon Creech, David Diaz (Illustrator)

3.8 of 5 stars 3.80 · rating details · 5,556 ratings · 455 reviews

"The sea, the sea, the sea. It rolled and rolled and called to me. Come in, it said, come in."

Thirteen-year-old Sophie hears the sea calling, promising adventure and a chance for discovery as she sets sail for England with her three uncles and two cousins. Sophie's cousin Cody isn't sure he has the strength to prove himself to the crew and to his father. Through Sophie's a...more

Paperback, 280 pages

Published March 26th 2002 by HarperCollins (first published March 22nd 2000)

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Mar 09, 2011 Josiah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A family mystery, dealing with the enigmas of one girl's past, set before the ominous backdrop of the romantic high seas...What could be more enticing than that?

The Wanderer really isn't as much a complex mystery as I had thought from reading the book's description, however. What lies at stake in these three hundred five pages is less about unraveling a mystery after following numerous leads to nowhere and then finally hitting upon the hot trail that begins an exciting endgame, and more a matt...more A family mystery, dealing with the enigmas of one girl's past, set before the ominous backdrop of the romantic high seas...What could be more enticing than that?

The Wanderer really isn't as much a complex mystery as I had thought from reading the book's description, however. What lies at stake in these three hundred five pages is less about unraveling a mystery after following numerous leads to nowhere and then finally hitting upon the hot trail that begins an exciting endgame, and more a matter of listening to the outpouring of a girl's fearful, fragile mind, and the facts about the permanent exit of her parents that she wants to keep under wraps, hiding them even from herself. Sophie is a strong, independent, wonderfully abled person who has many skills that set her apart from the rest of her adopted family, but even one so sure has to have a central weak spot.

Set in modern times, thirteen-year-old Sophie embarks with her three uncles and two cousins on a seafaring voyage across the Atlantic, from the United States all the way to the magnificent coasts of the UK. Their mode of transport, however, is no luxury cruise liner. Sophie and her extended family are making the trip in a traditional ship powered primarily by the wind in its sails, which can carry only a few necessary assorted acknowledgements of the technological age in which it rides. Just as in the centuries of sea travel's prime, dangers from element and creature loom in the waters through which the ship glides, dangers that seem so insignificant while land is in view, but have the lurking potential to grow and grow and grow once the sight of firm soil has become a distant memory.

With only six people to run a ship, Sophie knows that all of the crew members must be capable of saving the lives of the others, while also each feeling sure that everyone else aboard is equally capable. Sophie measures up well in this regard; her physical skills and maritime knowledge make her easily an invaluable part of the crew, capable of some things that none of the others could ever match. It's Sophie's thirteen-year-old cousin, Cody (who acts as the co-first-person narrator for this novel), who doesn't necessarily seem able to carry his end of the deal. Tensions mount between Cody and his father, Cody and his uncles, and Cody and his older cousin, Brian, as the voyage begins and their ship, christened The Wanderer, makes its way through the initially calm waters.

The sea can be a terrifying place, but there's more to Sophie's on again/off again aquatic fear than all of the crew realizes. While learning to adjust to life lived on the rolling glass of the ocean, Cody wonders why it is that Sophie wants so badly to see her adopted grandfather, Bompie, as he nears the end of his life in England. Sophie has never met Bompie before, having been adopted into the family only three years back. How does she know so many stories about the old man, stories with which her uncles aren't even familiar in more than little bits and pieces? How does the death of Sophie's parents fit into the puzzle, a tragic loss that Cody has been told very little about?

Friction is common in the early days of the trip, but the expedition is not to be a short or easy one. As the ship heads toward Ireland, still with nothing but water stretching to the limits of every horizon, a continuous blast of horrific storms begins to rock the boat, and suddenly the five passengers will need to muster every bit of their guile and will just to survive. It is under these circumstances that they all finally work together, as can only be brought about by such extreme, prolonged hardship, braving the awesome storm side-by-side in a waterlogged world of seemingly unending discomfort, pain and nausea.

When it's time, when we have come to know all of the characters well enough to be prepared for it, we find out the multi-tiered secrets of Sophie's past. There's nothing earth-shattering to be learned, but in some ways I guess that the truth is made up from parts that an attentive reader could have pieced together all along on the journey, strung together like pearls on a necklace; and when that's finished, Sophie is still Sophie and Cody is still Cody, courageous young sailors who have proved that their own personal toughness lies in more than simple seafaring knowhow and execution.

The Wanderer is told by way of alternating journal entries, a format successfully utilized by author Sharon Creech on a number of occasions. What really raises the story up to its admirably high level of success are the awe-inspiring scenes of when the ship first enters the storm's heart of darkness, when the fear of mammoth, totally overwhelming waves shifts from a mild apprehension to an absolute certainty, when cataclysm grinds its way unflinchingly straight into the boat and shows us what it's really like to be trapped in the power of nature's wrath. The descriptive prose throughout this time in the story is jaw-dropping in its intensity, better than I could have realistically expected; I could practically feel the aching cold and the merciless weariness, and even the eventual hopelessness of Sophie and her crew, almost as if I had actually joined them out there on the ocean. It is powerful, powerful stuff, and probably the reason why the book was awarded a Newbery Honor citation for 2001.

I would say that The Wanderer measures up well to the other lauded volumes authored by Sharon Creech over the years. The story is expansive and well-written, and the characters are treated even-handedly and with much individual care. I would probably give the full three stars to this book.
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Sep 20, 2012 Kirei rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: older-kids

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Jul 08, 2012 LeeVi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Sharon Creech has a special ability to touch the hearts of young girls. This is a story in which she uses several writing techniques to tell a poignant and powerful story of one young girl searching for her place in the world, and coming to terms with her difficult past. The story is particularly effective in the use of dual diaries, written by Sophie and her cousin Cody, which give the reader two revealing perspectives on the past and the present. Also delightful was the writing technique of So...more

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Jun 19, 2012 Learning Community Learning Community added it · review of another edition

Imagine having to sail on a boat for a whole summer and stopping at every island you come across. Well in this book six people had to do that. In this book Sophie is the protagonist, and her and her cousin Cody are the narrators. On this trip Sophie is the only girl. The other five are boys and they are all older than she is.

In the beginning of this book Sophie was living with her adoptive parents at home on land. She was invited on a trip with her uncles and cousins. The big change was that...more

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Jan 02, 2012 Olivia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: drama

She is hard to change the mind of, he can be bossy and only bossy but is very smart , he can only laugh at himself or make a joke out of everything. This is Sophie, Braian, and Cody plus there's also all the dads. (except sophies her mom is there sister so there dad I guess wasn't invited or didn't come along.) sophie is concurring her dream..... to sail a boat across the world. All she wants is sea life that's who or what she is comfortable with. Brain is bossy, he makes lists and criticizes ev...more

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Nov 27, 2011 Sue rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A good adventure story of and especially for a young girl.

Thirteen-year-old Sophie is the only girl amongst the surly crew of The Wanderer made up of her three uncles and two cousins. They sail across the Atlantic toward England, the land of Bompie, her grandfather. The sea calls to Sophie -- promising adventure and the chance to explore and discover. But the personal journey she takes brings her deeper into a forgotten past than she ever knew she could travel to.

Sophie's thirteen-year-old cousi...more

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Nov 09, 2011 Johnny rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Title: The Wanderer

Genre: Contemporary Realism

Summary: Sophie, a 14 year old, is the only girl in a sailboat crew that is attempting to sail across the ocean to England. Plagued by nightmares of a large wave that comes crashing down upon her, Sophie wrestles with frightening memories of her parents as she tries to come to terms with her forgotten past.

A. This critique addresses the theme of the adaptability of the human mind to cope with grief and tragedy to allow us to live normal and happy li...more Title: The Wanderer

Genre: Contemporary Realism

Summary: Sophie, a 14 year old, is the only girl in a sailboat crew that is attempting to sail across the ocean to England. Plagued by nightmares of a large wave that comes crashing down upon her, Sophie wrestles with frightening memories of her parents as she tries to come to terms with her forgotten past.

A. This critique addresses the theme of the adaptability of the human mind to cope with grief and tragedy to allow us to live normal and happy lives without going insane. Sophie has suffered a mysterious tragedy involving her parents that she not only represses, but transfers these past experiences onto other people. This allows her to continue to believe that her life is fine and everything is normal.

B. While everyone around Sophie is aware that she is an orphan, Sophie only acknowledges her real parents through the recollection of dreams, or recalling short stories about tragedies that happened to a little girl. For example, Sophie had a nightmare about a little kid on the beach being rescued by her mother from being washed away by a huge wave (pg 165). And, Sophie says that everywhere the little kid goes, people ask what the little kid remembers about the grown-ups who have gone away to that beautiful place, but the little kid does not want to remember that painful thing pg 231). Sophie's grandfather, Bompie, told her tales of how he occasionally fell into the water as a youth, however, when Sophie recalls these stories she includes near drowning experiences that never really happened to the grandfather (pg 156-157). It is not until Sophie's re-encounter with her grandfather that Sophie accepts her past and is able to really live in the present. The story has a strong psychological component where the main character battles with what is real and why she has recurrent nightmares, however, the pace of the story is slow, and there is a lack of a strong build up of tension or suspense, only mild curiosity.

C. Curriculum connection: Psychology classes addressing topics of coping with grief, transference, repression, projection, and self-defense mechanisms. ROTC naval classes addressing the knots used on boats, and nautical terminology.
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Aug 20, 2011 Margaret added it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2008, newbery_medal

I liked this book a lot - I am fond of stories with strong female characters. And I did think Sophie was strong and mature with a mind of her own. But not too strong to show some vulnerability at times. Part of her growing up was trying to deal with the difficulties of the past - I didn't feel like she really acknowledged/accepted her past well enough to the degree where she could move on without continuing to deny it in her mind but she made a good start.

I also liked the characters of cousins...more

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Jan 04, 2011 KidsFiction Teton County Library rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

J CREECH

Debbie-4 stars

"The sea. The sea. It rolled and rolled and called to me. Come in. Come in."

These are the words of Sophie, a young gal who is the predominant voice in the book, The Wanderer, which is actually the name of the boat Sophie and 5 men use to sail across the ocean.

Their destinationn on the boat is to England to see Bompie, who is the father of the 3 brothers and the grandfather of the 2 younger boys. Who is Bompie to Sophie? That along with lots of other questions about her rea...more

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Dec 08, 2010 Chris Murray rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Creech, Sharon. The Wanderer (2000)
The sea has always called to 13 year old Sophie so she is determined to sail across the Atlantic in the 45 foot sailboat, The Wanderer, with her 3 uncles and 2 cousins on a trip to visit her grandfather, Bompie, who lives in England. Sophie has many stories about Bompie that she shares with the crew – surprising stories because Sophie has never met Bompie. She was adopted and has only been in the family for 3 years although she refuses to acknowledge this and d...more

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Feb 21, 2010 Faith rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, timeless, recently-re-read

This has been one of my all time favorite books since I was maybe seven or eight. I've at least liked all of Sharon Creech's books, but this is the one I truly loved and has stuck with me ever since I read it for the first time. I found Sophie the only main character Creech has written that I was not annoyed by. The others all seem the same to me. Sophie, while maybe just as unreasonable as many of the other characters from other books, is very easy to relate to and her character is one you can'...more This has been one of my all time favorite books since I was maybe seven or eight. I've at least liked all of Sharon Creech's books, but this is the one I truly loved and has stuck with me ever since I read it for the first time. I found Sophie the only main character Creech has written that I was not annoyed by. The others all seem the same to me. Sophie, while maybe just as unreasonable as many of the other characters from other books, is very easy to relate to and her character is one you can't help falling in love with. I don't think there's a single person in The Wanderer I don't enjoy reading. Normally I find Creech's protagonists to be selfish and unreal (Yet for some inexplicable reason I DO like them). Sophie was called selfish several times in the book, but I decided that she made up for any of her selfishness by making me smile almost every page and showing everyone else how amazing the littlest things can be. I could really relate to how she's drawn to yet afraid of the ocean (Like Sophie, I've had recurring nightmares about the sea for years) and her casual denial of the past was certainly something I've done before, though not to the extent she took it to.
Cody is probably one of my earliest fictional crushes. I think I've been in love with him for about six and a half years, and when I re-read this book last night, I fell even harder for him. I think we can safely call him my soul mate.

I think another big difference in this book was there weren't many things that sounded just plain silly. Especially in Bloomability (though it was a nice read) her dreams just sounded ridiculous. In The Wanderer, maybe just because I've had similar dreams, they just seemed so much more realistic to what most people dream about.
And the writing. Did I mention the writing? Her writing is so to-the-point and clear, it never drags on, but it's still beautiful and poignant.

So this book gets placed on the shelf right next to the Book Thief and 13 Reasons Why, because while very different, they are all among the few books that have made me cry AND really think about life.

Very well done, Creech.

(Oh, one last comment... would people GET BOMPIE'S NICKNAME RIGHT? BOMPIE. B-O-M-P-I-E. BOMPIE. IF you love him so much, at least have the decency to remember his name.)

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Sep 09, 2009 Alexa SOF2014 rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Wave by, Todd Strasser is about a teacher named Ben Ross who makes an experiment to show the kids in his class what it was really like to be a Nazi. In beginning of the book Mr. Ross shows the kids a movie about the Holocaust. This was shocking and horrifying for them. Mr. Ross explains to the class that only ten percent of the population was Nazi’s at this time but everyone was afraid to stand up to the leader, Adolf Hitler. The next day he writes STRENGTH THROUGH DISCIPLINE on the blackboa...more

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Jan 03, 2010 Beth rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Traditional Sharon Creech - the journey theme. In this case, orphaned Sophie takes off on a sea adventure from Connecticut to England with her 3 uncles and two cousins. Together the motley crew repairs the Wanderer and sets off to England to see Bumpie, the father of the uncles, and grandfather of the cousins. Each take a turn not only at each job in the ship, but also at narrating; Cody, a wisecracker, gives us all the details about Sophie that she purposefully leaves out. Everyone has to teach...more

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Jul 28, 2011 Adriane Devries rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: children-s-fiction

This novel for young adults was a gentle, sweet read for me, so reminiscent of my own childhood spent sailing all weekends and holidays with my parents. In these pages you too can enjoy a marvelously visceral ocean adventure, with salty sea air you can feel in the back of your throat, dolphins skimming playfully alongside, mystical whale sightings, and a rollicking storm at sea—all from the dysfunctional safety of the Wanderer, a marvelously flawed, always-needing-repair sailboat that perfectly...more

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Jun 25, 2011 Elizabeth rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I thought that The Wanderer, by Sharon Creech was a wonderful book. It was about a girl named Sophie who is an orphan. She goes on a boat with her "uncles" and "cousins". She goes on the long journey to see her grandfather who lives in Ireland. The book shows Sophie's quest to figure out who she really is, as she has made up a whole new life for herself and "forgotten" her past (in which her parents die.) She starts telling stories about her grandfather or "Bompie" but in those stories she puts...more

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Mar 17, 2013 Tess rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I loved this book, and would recommend it to majority of readers. The book follows two story lines, action and character development. These two story lines allow the book to attract many readers. The main character is an adopted teenage girl name Sophie who pleads with her parents to let her sail on The Wanderer across the Atlantic. The Wanderer is Uncle Dock’s sail boat which will bring Sophie, her adopted uncles Mo, Stew, Dock, and her cousins Cody and Brian, from the U.S. to England. Each cha...more

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Nov 14, 2012 Daniela rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Grade Level: 6-8
Main Characters: Sophie and Cody
Setting: Conneticut, Atlantic Ocean, and England
POV: First person

Summary:
This is a story about a girl and a boy who travels the sea to England. Three sided Sophie: the dreamer/romantic, the logical/down-to-earth one, and heard-headed/impulsive; who has a strong connection to the sea. Cody is not sure he can handle the voyage, and is trying to prove to himself, his father, cousins, and the crew. We learn of the cousins stories through their diary en...more

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Jan 16, 2009 Tammy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a beautiful YS story, essentially about coping with grief, in all of it's forms, and an innocent yearning, by each of the characters to feel needed, wanted, and useful. Sophie is an endearing young character, who you initially feel is lying to get attention, and then as the story unweaves it's little secrets, Sharon Creech once again takes what it "looks" like and shows you what is really under the memories and the journey her young women must take to come to terms with a tragic loss. Al...more

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Oct 27, 2012 Jill rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: newbery-honor

Love Sharon Creech. I've enjoyed every book I've read of hers; there's an honesty about her stories, and a lack of pretension that I find refreshing.

"...I wonder why I didn't worry about these things beforehand. Maybe it was because I didn't know, about the four-knot current and I didn't know about the bad things that could happen. I wondered if it was better to know about the bad things in advance and worry about them, or whether it was better not to know, so that you could enjoy yourself."

Thi...more Love Sharon Creech. I've enjoyed every book I've read of hers; there's an honesty about her stories, and a lack of pretension that I find refreshing.

"...I wonder why I didn't worry about these things beforehand. Maybe it was because I didn't know, about the four-knot current and I didn't know about the bad things that could happen. I wondered if it was better to know about the bad things in advance and worry about them, or whether it was better not to know, so that you could enjoy yourself."

This is strikingly similar to the experience we've had the past year and a half with a sick child: "...we don't get enough sleep. I think the reason we seem so tired--beyond not getting unbroken stretches of sleep--is that every thing we do, even the simplest of actions, requires such effort. Just walking a few steps is a major production. It's like rock climbing, where you have to plot where each hand and each foot is going to go before you can actually move. I walk at the pace of a ninety-year-old woman or someone with broken legs. You have to brace yourself at every wave and be prepared for the shock of slamming into a wall. You can't stand freely for more than a few seconds without losing your balance from the motion of the boat."

"First I was completely peaceful, as if this was the most perfect place on earth to be, and then suddenly the peacefulness turned into wide, wide loneliness. And so I started thinking about life insurance and how nice it would be if you could get insurance that your life would be happy, and that everyone you knew could be happy, and they could all do what they really wanted to do, and they could all find the people they wanted to find."

"I feel as if there were things inside me that were safely tucked away, sort of like the bilge down there, hidden under the floorboards of The Wanderer. But it feels as if the boards were blown off by The Wave and things are floating around and I don't know where to put them."

"I feel as if I've been asleep my whole life, and I wish I'd been asking questions like Sophie does, and I wish I knew more things. But even though I feel that, I don't know how to turn into a person who asks questions, who knows more."

"...they instinctively trusted us, and really, it made me want to cry. It should have made me want to laugh, because it was as if they were inviting us to join them, be a part of their play. They seemed so overwhelmingly happy: playing, investigating, gliding and leaping and rolling. I don't know why it made me want to cry. I just kept thinking that there they were and here I was. They didn't have any burdens and they wanted to be with us, but I was way up on deck and I felt as if I weighed a ton."

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Feb 21, 2013 Jenny Lee rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The Wanderer is about a girl named Sophie who took on an adventure from America to London. Sophie is a girl from Kentucky, who longs to go to the ocean. One day, her uncles plan to visit her grandfather Bompie, who is living in England. Instead of riding an airplane, they choose to sail to England. Sophie was very excited about this. However, the uncles and her cousins didn’t recommend Sophie to join the journey, because she will be the only girl on the crew, she is not strong enough, and not ex...more

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Sep 16, 2011 Sophia rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya

A very quick read that went in an entirely unexpected direction. I was expecting something related to self-discovery and maturation (since they're sailing across the Atlantic and confined trips like that usually lead to "growing up quickly due to desperate circumstances") and I was only partially right: the characters do sort of "grow up" but there are a lot of other factors at play. Creech manages to fit in backstories for each character (although it helps that the cast is pretty limited) and e...more

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Jul 23, 2011 Kristin added it · review of another edition

Shelves: children-s-books

Didn't hook me--but then again, I'm an adult now. Walk Two Moons was my most favorite book for much of my early adolescence, and still when I read it again I find it very rich, layered, and amazing. I didn't get past the beginning of this one, though, mostly because my disbelief wasn't suspended that this 13 year old girl "had to" sail the sea. Maybe the reasons why she "had to" were upcoming, I don't know. I just thought that since sailing the ocean is a pretty time, cost, and privilege intensi...more

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Sep 02, 2012 Erin Reilly-Sanders rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, juvenile, realistic

I've been reviewing some Sharon Creech books and recent came by way of a copy of this. I'm not 100% sure that I hadn't read this before but really enjoyed reading it now nonetheless. I think that the story as a whole comes together really well- all the characters work and the two different perspectives offset each other in a rather necessary way and the hidden meaning bits really require the journey but become clear at the end, making the book feel like a nice, complete package. I also like that...more

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Aug 10, 2012 Don't_Trot_and_Text rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book wasn't terrible or great. It is simply in-between. I did like this book, but not 100%.

First, I like that it could be descriptive, humorous, and exciting all at the same time. I know the three don't connect in really any way. But, Sharon Creech keeps those three ideas and weaves them throughout the book.

Second, the characters. The characters' personalities varied. And I like the character development in Uncle Stew and his son, Brian, at the end because they were both pretty nasty and as...more

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Mar 17, 2013 Lana Jackson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: newbery, children-s-fiction

I found this Newbery Honor Book amazing. The rhythm and voice of this story were relaxing and poetic. Even the dramatic events that occurred during the sea voyage did not detract from the overall rhythm.

Thirteen-year-old Sophie sails across the Atlantic with her three uncles and two cousins, bound for England and a visit with Bompie, her ill grandfather. Each character is complex and multi-talented. The two cousins speculate on the mystery of Sophie's real parents while Sophie grapples with retu...more

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Nov 11, 2012 Keisuke Nishimura rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Wanderer written by Sharon Creech

Reading time 11/9 20minutes 11/10 30minutes 11/11 30minutes

7-word summary Family-sea-Happenings-traveling-Ship-Boat-England

Disscusion Question
1.Do you want to go the ocean with the ship?
A. No, I think it is dangerous! Also, for it, I must learn a lot of things, such as weather. It is very difficult...
2.The girl in this story is three-sided girl.
If you met such people, what would you do?
A.I am interested in such people, so I want to communicate with them. I wa...more

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Oct 31, 2012 Angela Kidd Shinozaki rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

First of all, I'm a biased Sharon Creech fan. But what makes this story interesting is its use of alternating viewpoints. I have to admit, I wasn't sure about it at first. I really liked being in the head of Sophie and didn't really click with Cody's character. I couldn't figure out why he was there when Sophie's voice was already plenty unique. But when the author invites you to go on a voyage, how can you not agree to come along for the ride? Especially when the main character has a secret. Th...more

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Apr 19, 2012 Peter Heinrich rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, young-adult, epistolary, read-aloud

Read this to the boys and enjoyed it right from the beginning. Zane (6) picked this book and seemed to like it well enough, even though the language and concepts were definitely meant for older readers. Aidan (8) wasn't really interested in the story until disaster struck on the high seas, after which he was attentive until the very end.

My only other experience with Creech was Walk Two Moons, another book dealing with the loss of a parent, a journey, and building a new family (and then finding o...more

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Apr 06, 2013 6brown_danielle rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is about an extraordinary 13 year old Sophie and her extended family's journey to England along their ship The Wanderer. Along the voyage Sophie and cousin Cody tell of their adventures through journal entries. These entries show all the excitement, wonderment and even frustration of life at sea and the discovery of eachother's past. Although I enjoyed reading this book, i feel that it had little or no storyline, making it seem like the book had no closure. Overall I think it was a pre...more

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Feb 14, 2013 Steve Clark rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: realistic-fiction

Another Sharon Creech tale of discovery via a journey. If you resent formulaic approaches by an author, you might tire of this, but for my money, she handles it skillfully enough that I always enjoy the trip.

Here Sophie is an orphan who journeys across the ocean with her adopted uncles and their sons. She loves the sea but fears it, longs to connect with them but faces obstacles along the way. As you would have to expect, there's a terrible storm along the way, but the whole seafaring journey is...more

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About Sharon Creech

I was born in South Euclid, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, and grew up there with my noisy and rowdy family: my parents (Ann and Arvel), my sister (Sandy), and my three brothers (Dennis, Doug and Tom).
For a fictional view of what it was like growing up in my family, see Absolutely Normal Chaos. (In that book, the brothers even have the same names as my own brothers.) Our house was not only full of...more I was born in South Euclid, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, and grew up there with my noisy and rowdy family: my parents (Ann and Arvel), my sister (Sandy), and my three brothers (Dennis, Doug and Tom).
For a fictional view of what it was like growing up in my family, see Absolutely Normal Chaos. (In that book, the brothers even have the same names as my own brothers.) Our house was not only full of us Creeches, but also full of friends and visiting relatives.
In the summer, we usually took a trip, all of us piled in a car and heading out to Wisconsin or Michigan or, once, to Idaho. We must have been a very noisy bunch, and I'm not sure how our parents put up with being cooped up with us in the car for those trips. The five-day trip out to Idaho when I was twelve had a powerful effect on me: what a huge and amazing country! I had no idea then that thirty-some years later, I would recreate that trip in a book called Walk Two Moons.
One other place we often visited was Quincy, Kentucky, where my cousins lived (and still live) on a beautiful farm, with hills and trees and swimming hole and barn and hayloft. We were outside running in those hills all day long, and at night we'd gather on the porch where more stories would be told. I loved Quincy so much that it has found its way into many of my books--transformed into Bybanks, Kentucky. Bybanks appears in Walk Two Moons and Chasing Redbird and Bloomability. Bybanks also makes a brief appearance (by reference, but not by name) in The Wanderer.
When I was young, I wanted to be many things when I grew up: a painter, an ice skater, a singer, a teacher, and a reporter. It soon became apparent that I had little drawing talent, very limited tolerance for falling on ice, and absolutely no ability to stay on key while singing. I also soon learned that I would make a terrible reporter because when I didn't like the facts, I changed them. It was in college, when I took literature and writing courses, that I became intrigued by story-telling. Later, I was a teacher (high school English and writing) in England and in Switzerland. While teaching great literature, I learned so much about writing: about what makes a story interesting and about techniques of plot and characterization and point of view. I started out writing novels for adults: The Recital and Nickel Malley were both written and published while I was living in England (these books were published in England only and are now out of print.) But the next book was Absolutely Normal Chaos, and ever since that book I have written mainly about young people. Walk Two Moons was the first of my books to be published in America. When it received the Newbery Medal, no one was more surprised than I was. I'm still a little bit in shock.
After Walk Two Moons came Chasing Redbird, Pleasing the Ghost, Bloomability, The Wanderer, and Fishing in the Air. I hope to be writing stories for a long, long time.
I am married to Lyle Rigg, who is the headmaster of The Pennington School in Pennington, New Jersey, and have two grown children, Rob and Karin. Being with my family is what I enjoy most. The next-best thing is writing stories.

© Sharon Creech(less)

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“I started thinking about life insurance and how nice it would be if you could get insurance that your life would be happy, and that everyone you knew could be happy, and they could all do what they really wanted to do, and they could all find the people they wanted to find.” — 5 people liked it

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