Peril on the Sea

Product Details

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• Notes: BUY WITH Boldness, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and handling to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
• ISBN13: 9780374358235

Description

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Customer Reviews

A amazing historical book
Peril on The Sea by Michael Cadnum is an amazing historical fiction book. It takes place in around July, 1588 in the sea thus the name Peril on The Sea. The main character is Sherwin Morris who is a sailor who was on the ship named the Patience. One day during a storm the ship blew causing all the sailors swim to safety. Sherwin Morris finds his way to another ship named the Vixen. This ship pis an English fighter ship. Will Sherwin be saved by these people or drown by them?

2010-02-10 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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One of the best
The way Cadnum writes is good - he mixed olde English with a more modern approach to the story, so it was authentic without being dull or confusing. I am reading this for the Newberry award at my school, so far this is a leading candidate. You could easily see the story from each character's viewpoint. It was a thrilling and realistic page turner. It did not feel like a history lesson, just a good story that took place a long time ago.

2009-10-04 (Gastonia, NC United States) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Rutgers University Project on Economics and Children
Captain Brandon Fletcher, renegade merchant and privateer, had no plans to join other English sea captains in defending England and the Queen from the Spanish Armada rumored to be off the English coast. But that summer of 1588, a series of unusual circumstances led him and his crew to just such a fate, despite his best intentions to avoid the conflict. Not only did his crew fish a drowning man out of the sea who would go on to pen the captain's memoir, they were also joined by a beautiful noblewoman who commissioned the privateer to intercept another ship that carried her family's fortune.

The combination of these strong-willed characters with a set of wartime circumstances beyond their control sets the stage for a harrowing adventure complete with love, greed, treachery, fortune, and death. This riveting book also offers the reader a nice opportunity to experience some of the historical events associated with the 1588 Spanish Armada as well as the economic motives behind the piracy and merchant trade of the times.

2009-07-24 | http://econkids.rutgers.edu (New Brunswick, NJ) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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Heat

Description

You had an accident, Miss P. was saying, her hands on my shoulders so I couldn't climb to my feet.
You hit your head. The diving platform is thirty-three feet up, higher than a third story balcony. Expert at the most breathtaking dives, Bonnie Chamberlain captures the best scores in every heat, and she is bound for Olympic trials. She has never felt fear--until now. One slip, one inexplicable mistake, and it's all over. Or is it? Determined to compete, Bonnie forces herself back into her routine. But no matter how hard she works, she can't keep her focus once her father is in trouble with the law. No one believes in him--not the newspapers, not the community, not even his family. There is only Bonnie--alone, ready to take the heat. Michael Cadnum is the author of short stories, poetry, and several novels for adults. This is his sixth young adult novel. He lives in Albany, California.

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The soft lapping sound of a swimming pool and the lifeless smell of chlorinated water pervade this novel about a competitive high diver who struggles through her terrible fear of returning to the platform after hitting her head in a diving accident. Bonnie Chamberlain, almost 17, faces an even bigger challenge when her lawyer father is brought to trial and convicted of defrauding his clients. After he pleads guilty and she finds that her mother, too, is implicated, Bonnie uses the determination that took her back up the diving ladder to take charge of her own life--and to accept her parents as they are. Michael Cadnum's oblique, hard-edged style is perfectly suited to this story set in the upper-middle-class milieu of Northern California, where pleasant, witty remarks are stand-ins for communicating real feelings. Cadnum is master of the revealing detail: Bonnie's boyfriend, Rowan, "wants to concentrate on acoustical physics," her stepmother, in "a sherbet outfit thing," looks like "someone auditioning for hostess at a pancake restaurant," and the courthouse has floors the color of goose-liver pâté. Here, tangible ambience is as important as plot. Thoughtful readers will find Heat less dark than, but equally engrossing as, Cadnum's Calling Home, Edge, and Breaking the Fall. (Ages 14 and older) --Patty Campbell

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Customer Reviews

Some Fuzzy Areas
Bonnie is a high school student and a prizewinning diver. The water and her training schedule are a major part of her life. So when she hits her head one day in practice on the high diving board and is not allowed to dive for a time, it seems her whole world is turned upside-down.

At the same time Bonnie is struggling with not diving, her father, divorced from her mother for a time and newly married, is also having turmoil in his life. He is a lawyer and has been arrested for allegedly defrauding his clients.

Bonnie is certain that the charges against her father are false, but her mother and her older sister and many others seem to feel differently. She is scared for her father and his time in jail, and she is just as scared thinking about her own life and whether she will be able to make herself dive again.

I liked the strength in Bonnie's character; she was confident and mostly secure in her life, even with the things that went wrong. I also liked what ended up happening in Bonnie's father's trial.

I wasn't sure what the character of Rowan was there for. His relationship with Bonnie was never clarified enough for me, and he didn't feel like a three-dimensional character. I also kept thinking that there was supposed to be some deep parallel between Bonnie being afraid to dive and her father's situation, but I couldn't quite make the connection.

2007-06-03 (Lowell, MA United States) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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Heat
Heat, by Michael Cadnum, is a different book than most. It has a different rhythm-a new way of explaining things in words and phrases other than what you would normally hear, so that you have to concentrate on the novel, which helps you really get into it. I liked this book because it travels through everyday scenarios in life, but with a unique outlook and taste that gives you a good view of Bonnie's experiences as a competetive diver with an injury and coping with her father's arrest. This is a great book for someone looking for an intriguing read and a great story.

2001-06-12 (United States) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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The Dive
This book is about a girl named Bonnie. She is about 16 or 17 years old. In the begining Bonnie gets into an accident. She does not remember much of it but she mostly recovers. The accident happened when she was at practice for her diving team. She is very good and everyone likes her. My favorite part of the book was when Bonnie and her best friend were fighting over something really stupid. It reminds me of me and my best friend. In this book Bonnie's parents are devoriced. Her dad has a new girlfriend now and her mom is still single. Dads girlfriend and Bonnie have some fights but for the most part they get along very well. I would reccomend this book to mostly girls because it is told by a girl and about what happens to a girl. On the other hand I think anyone would like it.

2001-03-21 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Heat
The book is quite interesting to read. People who are into water sports would enjoy this the most. A short summery: A sixteen year-old Bonnie Chamberlain wants to be a proffesional diver. On one of her practices she has an accident injuring her scalp. Fortunetly she is is alright and is still determined to practice, practice and practice. Now it's even harder for her to concentrate on the dives that her farther's in trouble with the law, and it ends with... well,I won't tell you, if u wanna find out,read the book!

2000-05-08 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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Flash

Product Details

• Notes: BUY WITH Self-assurance, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and ritual to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
• Brainwash: New
• ISBN13: 9780374399115

Description

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The Book of the Lion

Description

Edmund, an apprentice, is seized by the king's men and thrown in jail for his master's crime of counterfeiting. Then Edmund is unexpectedly released into the custody of Sir Nigel, a knight in search of a squire. Edmund will train as a squire and accompany the knight on a journey to fight alongside Richard the Lionheart on the Crusades. As they travel across Europe, Edmund is fascinated by all he sees, but he fears for his safety in the days that lie ahead. How can he possibly prepare for the untold horrors of war? "This is a pulse-pounding tale, vivid and visceral." -Booklist

"Fans of history and adventure will devour this well-crafted, dramatic quest." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

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"God wills it!" the Crusaders cry in battle. In this richly detailed and lovingly crafted story, Michael Cadnum explores the terrible paradox of holy war through the eyes of Edmund, a young apprentice metalworker, who finds himself unexpectedly rescued from prison and pressed into service as a squire to a knight. Without a bit of experience with horses or swords, Edmund goes off in terror and delight to help rescue the True Cross from the infidels in Jerusalem, and finds his manhood in surviving the siege of the sea-fortress Acre and the terrible bloody battle of Arsuf.

This is not the sanitized version of the Middle Ages that appears in so many young adult novels. From the first scene, in which the king's men punish Edmund's master by whacking off his hand, Cadnum gives us the authentic brutality of the period--its stink and bugs, random cruelty, drunkenness, and sudden death--as well as its colorful pageantry and lofty ideals. His previous medieval novel, In a Dark Wood, first showed his poetic skill with the small, vivid details that bring these times alive in all their strangeness. In The Book of the Lion, Edmund's journey to the Holy Land is full of such moments, as well as the heart-stopping adventure teens enjoy. The many young readers who are in love with the Middle Ages will come away from this story with their understanding of that time (and our own) enriched and deepened. (Ages 12 and older) --Patty Campbell

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Customer Reviews

Not appropriate for some teens!
I was reading this book and previewing it to see if it would work for my 10th grade world history classes. Though, I am not a prude and understand that literature can be subject to interpretation, I must agree with some of the other reviewers here on the inappropriateness of some parts of this book. I was looking for a good YA book on the middle ages, and was a bit thrown off by the several really unnecessary sexual references in the book. I understand that for the book to be accurate or semi-accurate for the middle ages and the crusades it is not going to be a Disney story and there is going to be some blood and gore as it was a violent time period. But it was the several sexual references that turned me against this book.

2010-06-26 | tokieyasu (Arizona) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 2

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Not appropriate for 12 year olds
I can't get over the graphic sexual references in a book intended for young middle-school aged children. For example, "Wenstan and Miles disagreed on a song about a woman in a citadel who grew her hair long, so any passing knight could climb up the long tresses and join her in corporeal delight. Miles contended that the hair in question was her privy hair, while Wenstan said this was the most irritating example of twisting a jolly song into something sinful. 'It was the hair of her head,' stammered Wenstan, 'Her head hair!'" (page 67).
It is one thing to reference some examples of prostitution and rape to give an idea of the zeitgeist of the Crusades; it is another to intersperse them throughout the book in such a cavalier manner, seemingly designed for the shock value or perhaps the entertainment value of the author as he knows he is writing for young children. I picture the author chuckling to himself as he slips these things past the parents and the teachers who are assigning the book.

2009-12-15 | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 1

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Accurate But Overly Gross
Was looking for young adult books to supplement our homeschool study of the Middle Ages. This one looked promising, but it finally grossed me out too much. I wearied of all the descriptions of bodily functions, bug infested armpits, and squishing lice off their own skins. Not to mention the graphic descriptions of rotted bodies, etc. If you don't mind reading these things over and over, this may be the book for you. We passed on it.

2009-03-16 (San Antonio, Texas United States) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 2

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Is this appropriate reading for 12 year olds
I wanted to use this book in literature circles this year with my 6th graders but I am somewhat concerned about some of the references in the book with regard to pleasure women and rape. I am not sure I could use this book in the classroom without offending some of my more conservative parents. Thoughts from any teachers who have used the book in the classroom would be appreciated.

2008-07-10 | DBiggers (Phoenix, AZ) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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not a bad book
The Book of the Lion, by Michael Cadnum, is an interesting book. It begins with a boy named Edmund who is a coiners apprentice. But it turns out the coiner is cheating on how he makes his coins and his hand is chopped off by order of the king, he later dies from the blood loss. When they are interrogating Edmund he lies and says he's rode a horse and used a sword before. So they send him off to fight the holy crusade with a group of knights and squires. In the end he becomes the squire of a feared knight, because his first dies in a storm, and he fights the holy crusade with a war hammer given to him by his master, who is also the knight he works for.
This book I great for detail it describes every little thing they possibly could. When they walk into a city for the first time he describes the people, the buildings, and the shops with great detail. When Edmund and a friend are captured and put in jail he describes the chains on the wrist and every board in the jail cell. Some of the greatest description is in battle he would describe the bodies, dead or alive, as if you were looking at them right at that moment.
The battles are also very well descriptive, not just in the surroundings but in peoples' actions too. When the battles would begin he would tell about where everyone was and what they were doing and he would describe how loud it was. Then of course when the battle actually started the was also great detail, like in Edmunds first battle it described how he fought and when his friend fell he shielded him and smashed an enemies arm with his hammer. Then he would tell about people charging over rubble and slipping on blood.
Another thing described nicely is how everyone changed over the story, or how peoples' views on other people changed. Edmund, when the story first started was reluctant to go to battle, he also was afraid of the knight that most said was a murderer. In the end they were friends and Edmund knew the rumors were wrong and he was a good man. His friend Hubert however was just the opposite, when the story started Hubert was very brave and ready for battle, but in the end Hubert wanted to go home because he was scared after his first battle. So everyone changed.
I would recommend this book to someone who is very complex and can understand and respect a lot of detail. All in all it was a good book that most would love.

2007-03-16 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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The Dragon Throne

Description

Edmund and Herbert, newly made knights, return to England expecting to revel in the pleasure of being home. Instead, scheming Prince John has a new task for the weary Crusaders; they are to escort two young women on a pilgrimage to Rome, a journey that will take them through the perilous Alps, controlled by bands of brigands. And once in Rome, even greater hazards await. Suspenseful, exciting, and filled with colorful details of 12th century Europe, this final volume of the trilogy that began with The Book of the Lion will thrill readers.

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Customer Reviews

The Dragon Throne
This book begins with a jousting where Hubert fights for his life and freedom of his friend and fellow squire Edmund, who recently returned with him from the Crusades. After being knighted by Prince John but refusing to swear allegiance to him, the two are sent on a mission by John's mother Eleanor of Aquitaine.

READ TO FIND THE REST!!!!!!!!!!

2006-03-16 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Edge (Novel)

Description

When the legal system fails to produce the justice that he desires, Zachary Madison's need for revenge increases, and, with a gun in his hand, he begins to think seriously about what he has to do."

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Customer Reviews

edge
This book is a crazy book. it is good but kinda weird.... the best part in it was when the main chatior (zach) is talking about his gun 35. cal pistle. he is kinda crazy. the reason why he is crazy is bacause of his ex girl friend he grew distant from his high school friends and also he loses his dad to a shooting at a robary at a gas station. he gets shoot and zach goes crazy.. or goes off the edge just liek the book is called. so yeah this a a crazy book. But he gets so fed up with it that he is just sick of life. and he really thinks he shoud go to the hospital and get osme help. so he does and it kinda helps him but he just still doesnt see the point to life so he likes to talk to his stster about things it think. He also is talking to his best friend about things but it isnt working. his mom also doesnt reall uunderstand him but he is just crazy in the head. he hated the smel of the hospital because it reminded of his dad getting shoot....his favroit place to eat is deinas dinner. it is a place where this zach kid can chill out and think about things. thats all i can rember from it i also might have been thinking about a movie also.

2004-02-21 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 2

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On Edge
Well this book is prety good I like the fact that it keeps you on the Edge of you seat wondering what is going to happen next.
I also like this book because it is short and simple,and yet it still gives you the reality that Zachary the main character in the book goes through some of the same things I do,I guess thats why I can realate to this book so well.

2001-11-27 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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On Edge
Well this book is prety good I like the fact that it keeps you on the Edge of you seat wondering what is going to happen next.
I also like this book because it is short and simple,and yet it still gives you the reality that Zachary the main character in the book goes through some of the same things I do,I guess thats why I can realate to this book so well.

2001-11-27 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Edge is a slow moving mystery with a real life plot.
I didn't really enjoy "Edge" because it was a slow moving book and it was made for relaxing the soul. However, I thought that it had a good plot and a lot of potential. "Edge" by Michael Cadnum is a good book even though it has a lot of slow parts. Zachary, the main character, dropped out of school, but is unwilling to live on the streets. He lives with his mother and his father who is a San Fransiscan author. One day Zach's father is shot during a hold-up at a red light. He was put in a coma and on respiratory support. The only witness of the shooting is an old store owner with limited sight and hearing. The preliminary hearings went poorly and it seemed like there was no hope to put the shooter away forever. Might Zachary do something on his own to avenge his father. If you enjoy soothing mysteries with limited action involved I suggest you read this book.

1999-11-05 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 2

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A good book if you like Psychological Thrillers.
Edge was very good. Michael Cadnum is excellent at describing his characters in the story. The plot is well thought out and you never know what the main character is going to do next. He mainly describes the main character but still does a really good job on the rest. He makes the story interesting and makes and fun to read, even though it has some dry and dull moments the exiteing ones make up for it.

1999-11-05 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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