Home
The Good Companion (Orca $18.95)
Superstition rules the sea. No whistling to call up the winds. No black suitcases to bring death on board. No cans opened upside down for fear of overturning the boat.
In Joan Skogan's The Good Companion (Orca $18.95) the captain holds fast to the old ways. The crew's coffee cups, hung in a row above the sink, always face inboard. First night out, dinner is always the same: ham, scalloped potatoes, raisin pie from the bakery in town.
A girl with long red hair comes alongside in a half-swamped skiff, asking to come aboard. The captain is forced to keep the girl on board when the weather turns foul. "We'll haul nothing but water now," he warns. But the nets are full of fish day after day.
When the red haired girl bakes a chocolate cake, the captain refuses to eat any. "More for us," says the engineer. She sits on the outside bench, where no one ever sat, peeling potatoes for the cook. "No women on boats," the captain complains. At the first opportunity, he returns to port and drops her off. A gale turns into a ferocious winter storm. The dark sea pours over the wheelhouse windows. The boat takes on water. The men wait to go down.
In a final desperate attempt to save the ship the captain calls on the power of the red-headed girl, and sees a vision that challenges his every belief.
Skogan, who makes her home on Gabriola Island, drew on her own commercial fishing experiences for this ghostly tale. Her other
children's books include The Princess and the Sea Bear and Other Tsimshian Stories; and Grey Cat at Sea. Illustrator Stephen McCallum of Victoria is well-known for his work on Belle's Journey and The New Land. As a filmmaker and animator he has worked for Disney and the National Film Board.
1-55143-134-3
[BCBW 1998]
In Joan Skogan's The Good Companion (Orca $18.95) the captain holds fast to the old ways. The crew's coffee cups, hung in a row above the sink, always face inboard. First night out, dinner is always the same: ham, scalloped potatoes, raisin pie from the bakery in town.
A girl with long red hair comes alongside in a half-swamped skiff, asking to come aboard. The captain is forced to keep the girl on board when the weather turns foul. "We'll haul nothing but water now," he warns. But the nets are full of fish day after day.
When the red haired girl bakes a chocolate cake, the captain refuses to eat any. "More for us," says the engineer. She sits on the outside bench, where no one ever sat, peeling potatoes for the cook. "No women on boats," the captain complains. At the first opportunity, he returns to port and drops her off. A gale turns into a ferocious winter storm. The dark sea pours over the wheelhouse windows. The boat takes on water. The men wait to go down.
In a final desperate attempt to save the ship the captain calls on the power of the red-headed girl, and sees a vision that challenges his every belief.
Skogan, who makes her home on Gabriola Island, drew on her own commercial fishing experiences for this ghostly tale. Her other
children's books include The Princess and the Sea Bear and Other Tsimshian Stories; and Grey Cat at Sea. Illustrator Stephen McCallum of Victoria is well-known for his work on Belle's Journey and The New Land. As a filmmaker and animator he has worked for Disney and the National Film Board.
1-55143-134-3
[BCBW 1998]
Submitted on August 7, 2003 in By David.
