A Thousand Shades of Blue

by Robin Stevenson

A sailing trip to the Caribbean might sound great, but sixteen-year-old Rachel can't stand being trapped on a small boat with her family. She misses her best friend and feels guilty about leaving her older sister Emma, who lives in a group home. Her father is driving her crazy with his schedules and rules, her brother is miserable, and there is never anyone her own age around. Worst of all, there is nowhere to go when her parents fight. While their boat is being repaired, the family spends a few weeks in a small Bahamian community, where Rachel and Tim discover a secret which turns their world upside down and threatens to destroy the fragile ties that hold their family together.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Romance, Teen, Realistic Fiction, Contemporary

231 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Robin Stevenson is the award winning author of over thirty books of fiction and non-fiction for kids and teens. Her books have received starred reviews and have won the Silver Birch Award, the Sheila A. Egoff award and a Stonewall Honor, and been finalists for the Governor General’s Literary Awards, the Lambda Literary Awards, and many reader’s choice awards. Robin was the Book and Periodical Council of Canada’s Champion of Free Expression for 2022, and received the Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence in 2023. She lives on the west coast of Canada.

Reviews

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off, I'm a sucker for books set on sailboats, as this one is. Secondly, I like protagonists who are a little awkward, unsure of themselves. Rachel is certainly not finished, but she's heading in the right direction. The broken sister and the troubled parents kind of pile it on, but somehow it manages to work without being too heavy-handed. I liked the story, I liked the characters, and the writing took me to the deck of the 'Shared Dreams' and left me looking into the water. Nicely done.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not normally a book I would read but I was at the library with my daughter and we were in the Teen section (I am a fantasy fan and she is not) trying to find something that she liked. I remember Teen books from my youth and they were fantastic - when did every book out there become a dystopian end of the work depressing series?

So I'm looking through the stacks and came across this book.
A dysfunctional Canadian family spends a year on a sailboat - what's not to like?
Flawed family members, secrets, troubled marriages - what's not to like?

I actually really liked this book. It had great characters (both primary and secondary) with great relationships that changed and grew. Great settings. Good plot that moved along at a nice clip. Short enough to read in one sitting but long enough to flush out the story.

This was a good read.

[Hanna Kollmorgen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I personally really like this book. It portrayed a year long journey with a family of problems. They couldn't even sit down together at the dinner table with out giving each other mean looks. And when they found out they were going to be together for a year, on a boat, they were utterly surprised. The daughter and son were so upset. Not to mention they had a disabled sister that they would have to leave back at home. Towards the middle they begin to talk more then they ever had before and they were finding things out about each other that they didn't even know. Its definitely a broken family turning in to a loving family. Its a tear jerker. There are a lot of twists that will keep you very enthused and you will want to keep on reading. I think they should have been more detailed with the surroundings. When they went to the Bahamas/Caribbean they didn't explain the setting or the beautiful plant life or something that would be eye catching as soon as you got there. I rated this book a 4 because I think it was a good story overall about a troubled family learning to accept there faults and become a happy loving family like they once were.

[♥Justine♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was really good. But, at the end it was weird that it didn't really explain what happened with Rachel's parents, and you just had to assume that everything ended up okay because everyone was acting friendly. But that part isn't exactly realistic, because her mom was going to tell rachel's dad that she cheated on him with Will, and apparently he didn't mind too much since they were being nice to each other when Rachel and Tim got back. It would have been more realistic if he didn't take someone cheating on him as something that didn't really matter, because that is probably one of the most unforgivable things someone can do

[Miranda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this book! this isn’t a book I would normally reach for but I’m glad I did! This is a great book for a teen reader as it does a decent job encapsulating parts of the teen girl experience and family struggles. It was a fast read as well, I finished it in a couple of hours. The only thing that bugged me at the beginning was when Rachel incessantly mentioned that something crazy and life altering had happened and wouldn’t mention what. This is more of a personal issue of mine because I get that it was the point of the book but it happened so often that I was just wanting Rachel to spill the beans. Then it ended up that she kept referencing two totally different life-altering things. Definitely a personal pet peeve of mine but it definitely did annoy me.

[Meghan Enga · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate the realism of this book. Not really appropriate for middle schoolers- well, of course it is, but not assigned by a teacher- because of the unsugarcoated plot, involving the real and believable feelings of a 16 year old. I liked a lot how the voice was true, how there was no superficial making it better, how she dealt with real things in a way that rang true- and how well she portrayed the reality of ‘sailing around the world.’ With your family. And your fallible parents. Hard truths to come to terms with and it ended in a way that felt real as well.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. it was an easy read but not boring. There was always something going on that made me want to keep reading. I literally read the whole thing in one day sitting beside the lake

[Rhiannon's Reading Corner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is a great book! This is one of the very few YA novels I have read that I felt represented teenage girls well. I could relate to the main character, and her actions seemed very realistic. This is an honest, beautiful, and hopeful story about repairing family issues.

[Lily]

This book was amazing I loved it so much!!

[Saffron Brookes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short, easy enough read :) I am enamoured for the cliche of ‘family boat in the tropics for a year’ whilst its not the best book I have read in this genre I still enjoyed it 3.5 stars

[Books and Literature for Teens · Rating 3 out of 5]

A year long voyage to the Bahamas may sound like the dream vacation, but to Rachel it is a disaster waiting to happen. Ever since Rachel's sister moved out, her parents have been fading away. Rachel's distrait father is suddenly trying to "patch things up" by taking them on this sailboat adventure; and Rachel's mom is becoming more distant than ever. Fake even. When their boat's rudder is cracked, Rachel and her family is stuck in Georgetown where Rachel and her brother Tim are once again faced with an ugly secret. Then there's Col, the cute twenty-something guy from The Flyer. Will the secrets and lies destroy Rachel's family, or will Rachel destroy herself?

******
A Thousand Shades of Blue is a unhappy look into the life of one imperfect family....with some major issues. And what family truly doesn't? Rachel's voice is the voice of hundreds of girl who suffer from a distressed family. Her father is a workaholic who never pays any attention to her; and her mother is a complete emotional wreck, so naturally the glue that holds the family together, is coming unstuck. Rachel reacts, of course, makes some wrong choices and discovers that lies are the true enemy of families.
With that said, I can honestly say this is an edgy book and if I had known what it what exactly about, I would spare myself reenactments of true events. In the end, A Thousand Shades of Blue brought a positive message about families and looking for the "cure" in the wrong place. Though I would never react the same way Rachel did, I feel many girls could relate to Rachel's feelings of pain and the hurt of just being ignored. This book may very well be somewhat of an answer to those who are going through tuff family times. I neither encourage nor discourage reading this book-it is entirely up to you since it is a mutual subject.

"Two feet and teen feet are shades of blue as different as misery and bliss, but when you are floating in between, it's not so easy to know if you have enough: enough happiness, enough love, enough trust. Our family is far from perfect, but maybe there's still enough there to keep us going." - Rachel

About the Author
Robin Stevenson has written six books for young adults including Out of Order, Impossible Things, Big Guy, Dead on the Water, and her latest book, Inferno which recently came out in April. She lives in B.C, Canada.


Pages: 231 Year Published: 2008 Genre: Realistic/Contemporary, Tragedy
Age Group: YA, ages 15+ or mature readers Classroom Use? No
Content: language, family violence, and sexual situations

Want to read more reviews? Check out booksandliteratureforteens.blogspot.com

[Katie]

Rachel is living out millions of high school students dream- sailing to the Bahamas (with her family), going to the beach everyday, and doing her schoolwork via correspondence. However, her life is not what it seams. First- Rachel's family is leaving behind her older sister Emma (who was left brain damage after a car hit her when she was six). Second- her mom starts having an affair with another "cruiser" named Will. Rachel's distant father- Mitch- continues with the facade that they are the perfect family, her younger brother, Tim- prefer books more than anything and Rachel finds herself smother by her family's dishonesty. Her only solace is her friendship with Becca- a nineteen year old on her on sailing trip and her crush on twenty-five year old Col- a well know player. When everything comes to a head when Tim runs off one night- Rachel let's everything all out- her resentful towards her parents, her guilt towards Emma, and her feelings for Col. Her parents take a short break from each other and her mom takes the kids to Nassau to figure things out. On their mini 'vacation" Rachel confronts her mother about her affair. While her mother is uncertain about the future- she is clear that she does not want Tim and Rachel to slip away from her like she thinks Emma did all those years ago.

A Thousand Shades of Blue is ok at best. Rachel is the token want to be rebellious teen with the dyed black and blue hair hanging with the "not so right" crowd. Her angst makes it impossible for her to like her father and confront her mother about her affair (she just lets it build up inside of her). Stevenson has too many plot lines going on at once- Emma's accident, Mitch's work, and Rachel's relationship with Becca and Col. Too many things going on at once for a fairly regular size YA novel (231 pages). The mini getaway with Mom, Rachel, and Tim was too packed (it only was twenty pages long but it was too intense). Ending was not satisfying- the family agrees to continue to sail on together but there is no real resolution.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by Andrew S. Cohen for TeensReadToo.com

Rachel is a sixteen-year-old daughter trapped on a year-round sailing trip aboard a small boat with her dysfunctional family.

Her dad, a child psychologist more in tune to the problems of his patients than his own children, suggested the trip to repair the rift between the family. However, Rachel feels guilty leaving her mentally-impaired older sister behind, along with missing her friends.

Rachel's parents continue to fight on the trip, her brother, Tim, seems to be bitter and the fringe hoping to hold their parents together, and Rachel never has anyone her age to be with. Ultimately, Rachel and Tim discover a grave secret that they are afraid to confront, threatening the continuity of their family that they wish to hold onto.

I enjoyed this story, as it had a page-turning plot as Stevenson effectively sets up the suspense so that the reader feels the need to continue reading the story to its ultimate conclusion. Along with some coming-of-age storyline, A THOUSAND SHADES OF BLUE provides for some interesting characters and a creative setting.

I only wish that the author chose to develop her characters a bit more, and elaborate on the beauty of the Caribbean and the surroundings, adding further depth to the story.

[Austinbenevides · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first picked up this book, I thought it was going to be a boring, same old book like any other one but I was wrong. This book followed a family that had many issues and followed them as they sailed across the sea to try and bring their family closer. Little did they know this trip would only make things worse. I liked how the author used the thousand shades of blue as a metaphor to describe the setting of the story and showed the different emotions of the story. I think it really helped give the reader a better sense of what the family was feeling. I think this was one of Robin Stevenson's better books but I don't believe he did the best job at explaining the characters in depth and left them with incomplete profiles and background information. I think this book would be good for someone who likes to read adventure books because it shows the beautiful land of the Bahamas. Also, anyone who is interested in reading about a life of a teenager would be perfect because it follows the life of a typical teenager girl who doesn't want to go on a trip with her family as she has a more self-centered ego. Overall I would give this book a 8/10 because it kept me interested throughout the book but the character background could have been more in - depth.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Today I have a book for you called A Thousand Shades of Blue by Robin Stevenson. I first picked up this book because of the beautiful cover design, but as soon as I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down. The story is told by Rachel, a sixteen-year-old girl whose family decides to sail from their home in Canada to the Bahamas on a family trip as a way to bring their family closer together. Angry at missing her junior year of high school and leaving her disabled older sister behind, Rachel is not eager to spend so much “quality time” with her brother and her parents. Finding the small boat claustrophobic and restrictive, she longs for her laptop, cell phone, or even friends her own age. As time goes by, the family problems seem to come to a head and their relationship gets worse instead of better, especially afte

r the rudder is damaged on some rocks and they have to return to the Bahamas until it can be repaired. Will the family be able to survive the trip in one piece? Or is the damage to the boat just a symbol of a broken family that cannot be fixed?

Stop by the library today to pick out a really good book and have a good weekend, Arrows.

[Selena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rachel is a typical Canadian teen whose family happens to be disintegrating. Her parents, eager to bring the family back together (and save their marriage) decide to take Rachel and her brother Tim on a year-long sailing trip from their home in Hamilton, Ontario to the Caribbean. Along the way, Rachel discovers that the greatest challenges aren't necessarily navigating the waters of the Caribbean, but those of her own family's rapport, communication and entrenched relationships with one another. A Thousand Shades of Blue is a realistic and thoughtful portrayal of the challenges faced by modern teens and their families, set in the beautiful surroundings of the Bahamas. Age 13 plus. Review from Resource Links: http://web.ebscohost.com.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfvi...

[Roan Jaca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really love this book. I'm not fan of reading but this book is amazing. This book is about a journey of a girl that has family problem. Even if they live in a same roof they feel separated. They couldn't even sit down together at the dinner table with out giving each other mean looks. Then when they found out that they're going to be together a year in a boat they're really surprise and their children are so upset especially the one of their daughter because not to mention they have another daughter that has special needs and she's not living with her parents house she's living in the home for disabled. Then in the middle they begin to talk more that they never done before and they were finding things out about their family that they didn't know. It is definitely a broken family but it runs in a loving family. This book is a lot of twists that is why i enjoyed reading it. I gave this book a 5 star because this book is a good story for family that having a trouble. ENJOY READING!!!!!

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

A refreshingly realistic look at a family struggling to stay together and a young girl trying to find her place in the midst of it all. 16 year old Rachel is stuck on a small boat with her family for an entire year--her father had thought it would help make the family closer. While on the trip, Rachel tries to reconcile her feelings about leaving her older, mentally disabled sister behind and come to terms with the fact that she knows her mom is having an affair. Rachel's emotions will ring true with most teens, and the book ends with no easy answers. Rachel's struggle to decide if she should lose her virginity puts the book on the older end of a middle school read. A down to earth and authentic story.

[Caitlín K · Rating 2 out of 5]

The cover is pretty (though the floating-girl silhouette is odd).
But the story was your typical "Oh no, my family has PROBLEMS. I'm going to act out because I have to feel in control of something. Oh look, my sibling isn't as much of a looser/nerd/weirdo as I thought. Maybe my parents aren't, either. Hope lives on!" but set on a boat. And for taking a family sailing trip, they didn't even sail very much.
It wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything special, either. If you want to read a book that also involves sailing and is both more appropriate for younger children (no cursing, no make-out sessions) and deeper, I recommend Sharon Creech's The Wanderer .

[Lincolnwood Public LIbrary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A refreshingly realistic look at a family struggling to stay together and a young girl trying to find her place in the midst of it all. 16 year old Rachel is stuck on a small boat with her family for an entire year--her father had thought it would help make the family closer. While on the trip, Rachel tries to reconcile her feelings about leaving her older, mentally disabled sister behind and come to terms with the fact that she knows her mom is having an affair. Rachel's emotions will ring true with most teens, and the book ends with no easy answers. Rachel's struggle to decide if she should lose her virginity puts the book on the older end of a middle school read. A down to earth and authentic story.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book without really knowing what it was going to be about but I ended up liking it. I ran in to the library 10 minutes before closing to find something to read that was not baby related. As a result I grabbed this off the shelf without having time to look at it much or get much of an idea about it. Additionally, it turns out that this is a YA book that was mistakenly shelved in the adult section. Anyway... I liked the story and the characters for this book. It was a really fast moving story and I read it pretty much straight through (from about chapter 3 to the end in one sitting). The author could have done more to describe the setting, but really this story was about the people and not the place.

[Alexis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had an interesting location that added a great dimension to the plot. Sixteen-year-old Rachel is conflicted when her family decides to sail around the Bahamas for a year. She doesn't want to be held on a boat with her family, which is basically falling apart. There are problems in her parents' marriage and tensions within the family unit. I liked this book because it was extremely realistic and there was a lot of material packed in. Rachel's voice was accurately depicted and the details about living in the "cruiser community" of the Bahamas were interesting. Nominated for a Governor General's award. :)

[The Backlist Book · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have serious feels about this book. First this book contains cheating and inappropriate age gaps. You have been warned. Also the way it is written has a strong suggestion of approval. Which frankly bugs me the most because this a middle grade book.

This book made me want to abandon life as I know it and take off travelling. In a big way. Just not by boat #seasickness. This book also gave me major feelings of a lack of resolution. Which would be realistic and totally fine if it were targeted at adult like me. it isn't though it is being marketed to kids and teens who are going to read and possibly learn unhealthy relationship habits.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Thousand Shades of Blue is a gripping book of family ties. Rachel is incredibly unhappy and lost in her messed up family and just wants it to be better again, which is hard when her sister, Emma, who kept them glued together, has moved into a group home. Rachel’s sadness turns to dread when, of all things to do, her father and mother decide to pull Rachel and her brother; Tim, out of school a year to “fix the family” however, it makes the family worse, or does it? Rachel starts to feel closer to her brother than ever when they uncover a shattering secret.

[Aurora Batty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am guilty of choosing a book based on their cover. This edition had a lovely cover. I did read the blurb before checking this book from the library and found it interesting enough to pick up.

This is a coming of age story about a teenage girl out on a year long family sailing trip. The family relationships are strained and uncomfortable, will this trip bring them closer or rip them apart.

The story gets to a slow start but it is truly a good story. There is even a hint of mystery and romance mixed in with the family's turmoil.

[Linden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rachel's parents decide the famliy needs a year-long sailing trip to the Bahamas to give them quality time together. The reality is that life for Rachel and her younger brother Tim include a lack of privacy, closer contact with their parents' tensions and precious little of the expected beach life the trip would seem to promise. And worst of all, Tim and Rachel discover something that threatens to do more than rock the boat they are living on.

[Shawn Bird · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed the writing in this story of a 16 year old girl stuck for a year on a sailing boat with her parents and 12 year old brother. It's one of those 'bring the family together' trips that tend to be traumatic for all concerned. The events and emotions are believable. I am thinking a trip to the Bahamas would be nice. But I think I'll fly.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. There was this pull to it that got me hooked immediately... But I didn't quite understand the plot of this story. Was it Rachel trying to survive her own life, her family problems or what? In my opinion, the plot wasn't explained very well, but overall, it was a great read.

[Amy Barton · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was average, broken family, troubled teenage girl...But I liked how Robin Stevenson used the shades of water as a metaphor for the way Rachel's family interacts. Other than that...it was pretty average. Sorry about my horrible reviews.

[Rachellared · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually quite enjoyed this book. I picked it up without having any idea what it was about except for the sailing theme and I read it while on a sailing trip. I found myself really liking this book and relating all the sailing activities back to what I was doing on the sailboat.