Stormsearch

by Robert Westall

Tim finds an old model ship buried on the beach. With the help of eccentric Uncle Geoff and sister Trace, he is able to uncover a forgotten secret. All three of them must embark on an exciting adventure to solve a story of danger and romance long buried in the sands.

Genres: Childrens, Adventure, Young Adult, Fiction

128 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 1992

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Robert Westall was born in North Shields, Northumberland, England in 1929.

His first published book The Machine Gunners (1975) which won him the Carnegie Medal is set in World War Two when a group of children living on Tyneside retrieve a machine-gun from a crashed German aircraft. He won the Carnegie Medal again in 1981 for The Scarecrows, the first writer to win it twice. He won the Smarties Prize in 1989 for Blitzcat and the Guardian Award in 1990 for The Kingdom by the Sea. Robert Westall's books have been published in 21 different countries and in 18 different languages, including Braille.

From: http://www.robertwestall.com/

Reviews

[Huw Collingbourne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely one of Westall's second-ranking novels. A moderately entertaining mystery/adventure that lacks the insight and the passion of his best books. At his very best, Westall's novels "for children" are really adult books in disguise. This one is more traditionally juvenile and, as an adult, I didn't enjoy it as much as, for example, The Machine Gunners or Blitzcat.

[Frankie Rufolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the Machine Gunners, but an enjoyable story. The story is largely about fixing and rebuilding a boat which is a bit hard to follow at times but Westall is very good at description so there's some good writing and he's also good with boys' characters and the characters are all quite likeable all round.

[Jenn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Grossly disappointing. The only interesting characters for me were the ones the main ones were researching. The ending was bland... half irrelevant even, with the boy complaining about his parents, whom we don't even get to know, beyond his whiny/limited perspective of them.

[Joel Cuthbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spent months trying to track down this childhood favourite my family used to enjoy in Audio format on long trips, and it was a perfect pairing for a family trip out to the East Coast. Remarkably, it aged quite well. A decent adventure tale with nods to some historical concepts as well. Now I'm off to form a list of old vague memories of childhood reads and perhaps make this type of read a vacation tradition.

***2024 - Summer Revisit***

Heck yeah. Busted out this gem of nostalgia for a few stretches of my recent road trip down south. It's such a fine Summer Vacation read as you can't help but get swept up in the intrigue mystery and "summer holiday" of the thing. This is certainly one of my fonder memories of period piece historical questing. The fact that it somewhat liberally takes from a kind of Romeo & Juliet scenario makes it feel even more historically familiar. I love the extended family full of characters and the way it twists and turns. I'm sure it might just get lost to history, but there was this profound period of childhood favourites in my family that often seemed to take place off the coast of some small village in England or round some ragged rock on the Australian coast... was it a golden age of children's books? Was it just my local library seeming to favour those? I don't know (and I don't care).. cause I love the stuff.

See you in a few summers again I'm sure!

[Tracie Cowell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like to make a point of reading outside of my age bracket and general preferences. My brother also knows my love of books, which means he can pick up some of the most random reads for me. This is most certainly one of the books he's given me of late, along with 4 more of Westall's books.

But, enough about the hows and whys I came to read this book. The story itself is a very quick and easy read, ideal for the target audience. It doesn't underestimate the intelligence of children, nor does it patronise. Whilst it might not have the same levels of depths that it would have had, had it been aimed at an older demographic, it has just enough to whistle along at a merry pace. Not once does it get boring. No wonder I read it in a night.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember Westall's name from my childhhod - I think I really enjoyed the Machine Gunners but don't remember reading Stormsearch.
It's a well written book but felt fairly flimsy - I couldn't quite work out what age group it was aimed at. Lots of swearing and fairly adult concepts hinted at but a pretty basic plot.

[Jo Bennie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good and sad, about a little model boat that links present day Cornwall with a sad tale of lost love, hope and missed opportunity