Module 6 - The Wreck of the Zephyr

 Courtesy of yourbooksworld.com

Book Summary:   
This story is about a young man who claims to be the best sailor that has ever been.  One night he goes out in a storm and wakes up on an unfamiliar beach.  He walks to the nearest village and on his way notices that sailboats are sailing in the air rather than on water.  He wants to learn to sail the air. A man he meets takes him up and tries to teach him.  That night he goes out by himself and goes home.  When he arrives, his boat goes back to the ground.  He spends the rest of his life looking for the island with air-sailing boats.

APA Reference:
Van Allsburg, C. (1983). The wreck of the zephyr. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

My Impressions: 

  The artistry in this book adds so much to the story.  The story itself shows how the imagination can lead to amazing adventures.  I can see many boys dreaming of flying through the air with their sailboat.  Children reading this book will see the benefit of using their imaginations and reaching for their dreams.  It also shows the value of perserverance.  The boy spent his whole life looking for that island and still didn't give up.

Professional Reviews:

Award-winning children’s book author Chris van Allsburg brings us another original fantasy.  In it a young boy, brilliant at sailing, scoffs at the advice of more experienced sailors and ventures out into a storm.  When his boat capsizes, he finds himself on an island populated by people who sail in the sky with the use of special sails.  Determined to master this new skill, he steals some sails and uses them to travel home.  Forgetting that the sails do not work over land, he decides to show off by ringing his village’s bell tower and, like a modern-day Icarus, plunges from the sky.  The ending is a little more gentle than the Greek story, and instead of perishing he lives out his life limping from his injury, searching for new sails to restore his flight.Van Allsburg, in his characteristically understated way, spins the story in a somber mood, allowing the fantastical story events and the timeless themes of pride, desire, and sorrow to emerge with quiet grandeur.  This kind of fantasy may appeal best to serious-minded children, but even those who are used to more lighthearted books may benefit from this story of inflated pride which leads to tragedy.

Professional Review Reference:
Gonzalez, S. (2009, September 6). Eye level books: Literature for a christian imagination. Retrieved from http://www.eyelevelbooks.com/2010/09/06/book-review-the-wreck-of-the-zephyr/

Library Uses: This would be a good "read aloud" book for any library.  Also, it could be used for demonstrating artwork in books.  Some artist will come to schools and create a piece of art while a story is being told.  This would be a good introduction for that sort of activity.