Leaving Protection

by Will Hobbs

Raised in the island world of southeast Alaska, sixteen-year-old Robbie Daniels jumps at the chance to work as a deckhand on a salmon troller captained by legendary fisherman Tor Torsen. Catching king salmon from dawn till dusk, Robbie is living his dream -- until he discovers his mysterious captain's dark secret. Tor is illegally searching the coastline for historic metal plaques buried by early Russian explorers. When Robbie learns the value of these hidden treasures, he fears he may know too much tosurvive. Tor's wrath and a violent storm at sea put Robbie's courage and wits to the ultimate test.

Genres: Adventure, Fiction, Survival, Young Adult, Action, Suspense, Mystery

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2004

About the author

WILL HOBBS is the author of seventeen novels for upper elementary, middle school and young adult readers, as well as two picture book stories. Seven of his novels, Bearstone, Downriver, The Big Wander, Beardance, Far North, The Maze, and Jason's Gold, were named Best Books for Young Adults by the American Library Association. ALA also named Far North and Downriver to their list of the 100 Best Young Adult Books of the Twentieth Centrury. Ghost Canoe received the Edgar Allan Poe Award in 1998 for Best Young Adult Mystery.

In outdoor stories that appeal to both boys and girls, Hobbs has readers discovering wild places, sharing adventures with people from varied backgrounds, and exploring how to make important choices in their own lives. A graduate of Stanford University and former reading and language arts teacher, Will has been a full-time writer since 1990. He lives with his wife, Jean, in Durango, Colorado.

Will's books have won many other awards, including the California Young Reader Medal, the Western Writers of America Spur Award, the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award, the Colorado Book Award, and nominations to state award lists in over thirty states.

Reviews

[Garrett Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good Book

[Seth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book took me to an unfamiliar place out in the big blue. It took me out to sea around Alaska as a fisherman which is something I knew next to nothing about. The book taught me about fishing though as Robbie Daniels experienced his first king salmon fishing season as he taged along with Tor Torsen who was a legendary king salmon fisher. Of course with Will Hobbs being the author the book is a survival story. I chose to read it mainly because from the back cover I realized it was going to be a survival story and in the end it was a good chose. I love this book!

[Dayna Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robbie is 16 and ready to earn some money on his own. He signs on as deckhand to the famous fisherman Tor Torsen. Robbie is finally on his own living his dream of catching king salmon from dusk till dawn. But is Torsen really interested in fishing? When Robbie learns his secret, what will Torsen do to keep anyone else from finding out? Another great work by Hobbs.

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great little adventure set on the high seas of the Alaskan coast.

[Neel Patel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leaving Protection is about a kid named Robbie who is sixteen years old. Robbie left his family and their home of Port Protection, Alaska. He went off to find a job as a deckhand to a salmon trolled. He arrived in a town named Craig to find out that all of the jobs of a deckhand had been taken. A local man gave Robbie a tip that a very successful fisherman might need help. Robbie started to look for the fisherman on the docks where he found the fisherman boat. Robbie decided to aboard the fisherman boat to where the fisherman catch him. Robbie tries to talk and persuade the fisherman named Tor into giving Robbie a job. Soon Robbie learns that the Tor isn’t only looking for salmon but is also looking for Russian plaques that were buried around the waters. After a couple days of fishing they find one of the plaques. After finding the plaque Tor starts to act weird and all Robbie wants to do is get off the boat. On the last days a massive storm hits them and they try to race to the only safe place and that was the mountains of Lituya Bay.

I liked reading the book because it was full of adventures and had like a type of mystery. I usually don’t like reading but this book was a exception. I liked how Robbie a young man that was sixteen left his home of Port Protection, Alaska and tried to make it on his own living in the real world. He tried to find a job as a salmon troller all by himself and got the job he wanted. While he working for Tor the fisherman he found out interesting things about him and his ship. The Russian plagues made the book even more interesting and how they had to fish to find the plagues. When the storm had hit their boat and they had to go to safety on the mountains of Lituya Bay made the book more suspenseful. I don’t think the author did anything wrong with the book. The only thing I would say is that he could have done is to add what happened to Robbie after they got back. I think I would recommend this book. I feel like people who like to read books about adventure and mystery would like this. I don’t think this book should be taught in schools because it doesn’t talk about anything that has to do with learning something. I think you can somewhat learn a life skill but not really. I feel that the book just doesn’t really have to do with learning a subject other than don’t run away from your family. Other than that, I didn’t seem to find any other values from the book. I liked how the choice of descriptive words the author used. It made the book easier in order to imagine what the characters were going through and how they felt through the book.

[Mariano Antolin · Rating 4 out of 5]

From beginning, to the end, this book had me on the edge of my seat. In fact, I read so much of it in a matter of time, that it only took a day to read! Well, the book isn’t that long anyways, but its a really good book for when youre on the go. The book, “Leaving Protection” written by Will Hobbs, was suspenseful, heartbreaking, and maybe even a bit terrifying at some points in the book. Let me sum it up a bit. So there is a young boy that grew up on a small island, inside a boat house, where he went fishing almost everyday, and hoped to make a living out of it. He started by trying to find a full time job as a fisherman, and that’s hard work. He is caught snooping around in an old fishermen’s boat, when the old man decides that he might need a deck hand. So its king season, where most king salmon come along with there packs of smaller fish. It’s about ten dayas, in, and Sam wants to just give in, he is covered in salmon scales, smelled like seaweed, and was burnt to the bone, but you see, tor wouldn’tt let him leave, he was stuck on the storm petrel until king season was completely over. So a few days pass, and tor takes medicine to help him with his gruesome back pain. The medicine keeps him asleep or an extra hour or so, and before they know it, kind season is over. But the worst part is, a missive storm is coming there way. Will the storm petrel live up to its name and will the crew be saved? Find out now! (Its only four dollars, go get it) Anyways, The book is pretty realistic, a boy looking for a job, something happens, so I think it was fine. I loved the book, but IDE also love a sequel!

[Hudson L.]

I am reviewing the book Leaving Protection by Will Hobbs. Robbie is 16 years old, and his family lives on a tiny house boat. It’s always been Robbie's dream to catch fish out in the deep waters. And he knows he would be leaving his family but they would understand why he would want to do this. And now is the perfect time to do that, he is finally old enough to be able to have a job like that. His parents are happy for him for getting this opportunity. Also, he has been told that legendary fisherman Tor Torsen is the captain. It’s always been Robbie's dream to have this job. Robbie knows he is gonna miss his family but he can’t miss out on this opportunity.







Spoilers Ahead!!


This book had me on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next. The book title really lives up to what happens Robbie isn’t safe anymore with Tor doing bad things, such as searching for illegal metal russian plaques buried by russian explorers on the coast . When I picked up this book I knew it would be good with all the adventure and thrilling aspects. When Robbie was on his way to Tor’s boat I was excited, but when I found out Tor was doing illegal things I got scared for Robbie. I think this book is a must read because it really is made like no other book.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the books themes is mystery, from the middle to end of the book the mystery plays a big part in the plot. This book would be best enjoyed by someone who is observant or someone who can easily grow to care for characters in a book. A realistic part of the plot is how he joins the salmon fishing business. An unrealistic part of the plot is where the main character lives at the start of the book. His house is a boat house made out of tree parts. The author can really get you to care for the main character, even with his short introduction. The author could improve the part where his is getting guided on how to work on the ship. The story slows down and starts to drag there. Aside for that, the book is good. I recommend it to people who are into mystery books.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is definitely a coming of age book filled with suspense and newfound challenges that present themselves to a teenager exploring a new domain in the world—especially the dangers of fishing in Alaska. It is enjoyable and suspenseful while also filled with plenty of fishing terms and history of the the Alaskan region. I think this is a wonderful book to spark some interest in history of the region and fishing.
Lastly, I did find it interesting that the author has a bias towards putting the artifacts inside a museum instead of selling them in some sort of a market. This brings up an important question of what should we put in museums? Does placing something that someone would pay a lot of money for inside a museum as a donation have economic ramifications on a broader scale?

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good YA book about a kid in Alaska. He grows up in smaller waters but has always wanted to fish big waters. So he travels to get a job and gets one on a big boat. The owner of the boat, Tor, is looking for fish but also these buried treasure plaque things. They do find some, fish some large fish, hit some storms and other adventures. Tor ends up going overboard, but the kid survives. I liked the Alaskan history and geography in the book, the info about boats, fishing and the ocean. I didn’t love the treasure hunting plot line, but I guess it would be popular for a lot of kids to read. I just thought the treasure hunting part was kind of hokey and cheesy. There were some specific terms about fishing and the ocean that I learned from this book, which was a plus.

[Shaun Jacques · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I read the book”leaving protection by will Hobbs”I was always on the edge of my seat in the beginning I was not really in to it then once I read about the first 20 pages I realized that it was a really interesting book. The part that I liked the most would had to been when this boy wonders onto tors boat and at first the fisherman had wanted nothing to do with him to saving his life at the end of the story . This book kept me really interested in reading and every time that I got a chance I opened the book I would

[Erika · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh boy, the best I can muster for this one is a meh. Have been reading a lot of young adult stuff, helping the MS Reading Olympics team I coach. This is the story of about a two week fishing trip gone wrong. I was assuming I would like it just based on the Alaska setting, but there wasn’t much to like. The characters are flat, the story was formulaic, and there was only about ten pages of adventure in the whole book. I can definitely write detailed questions to help the team now that I have read it, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone!

[Shawn]

Robbie Daniels is a 16 year old boy looking for a job to make some money but he finds himself in a storm with a crooked boss. First, Robbie Daniels gets a job to be a deckhand to Torsen. Then, Robbie finds out that he was actually brought on to help illegally search Russian Plaques. Finally, Robbie is fighting the storm and his boss is swept off the back of the boat. Robbie goes home to his family safely and doesn’t have to worry about Torsen anymore.

[Sarca · Rating 1 out of 5]

A YA read.
Leaving Protection was the weakest Hobbs novel I've read to date. Reading about fishing on a salmon troller got way too technical. The characters were also dry and uninteresting. The side story about stealing a Russian plaque was meh at best. I am surprised by the positive reviews, I guess I'm the outlier.

[Someone · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me, this book was great. It put me in an unfamiliar place with characters I knew almost nothing about. It was fun watching their personalities develop, and the story in itself was very interesting.

[Ranee · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. It was an adventure but lots of facts thrown in whether they gelled with the story line or not. Though I'd love to explore more of Alaska, this book did not make me want to do deep sea fishing. I got sea sick on the short experience I had and, no thank you :)

[brielle jensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

austin recommended i read this and i enjoyed it!!! fishing for salmon in alaska is a crazy career and the story was cool.

definitely foreign but i liked it. it was entertaining.

def sad that tor died, but he was crazy and will be with his wife again.

[SFrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to learn about southeast Alaska, trolling life, nautical language and the waning livelihood of many people because of big business fish farms.

[Jaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s very mysterious and misleading. You never know what exactly is going to happen next and are taken on the adventure off a life time.

[Alexey · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s very mysterious but also very misleading. You never know what exactly is going to happen next and are taken on the adventure off a life time. The ending gave a twist and thrill to the story.

[Mason Zell · Rating 5 out of 5]

i really liked the book.

[Natalie]

I think it was a good book very detailed.

[Kendra · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just not my cup of tea. It was sort of like reading a kid's version of a Herman Melville tale. Lots of boat terminology.

[Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

since Duncan was on a similar fishing boat in same area!

[Melody · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adventure!
I remember hearing Will Hobbs talk about writing this book and what he did to experience fishing kings.

[David Bernstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Bernstein

9-22-13

English Honors





The title of my book is Leaving Protection by Will Hobbs. The genre of this book is realistic fiction. It takes place in Alaska. The main character is sixteen-year-old Robbie Daniels from Port Protection, Alaska.

The book starts with Robbie trying to get a job as a deckhand fishing king salmon. Robbie comes from a poor family that lives on a boat. He gets to the dock and hears about this one highliner who owns a troller called the Storm Petrel. He wonders on his boat without permission and sees a plaque and gets caught by the guy who owns the boat. He somehow became that guy’s deckhand whose name was Tor Torsen, an old man who has been fishing for years. Robbie fishes on his troller for a while and hears about the history behind the plaques. They were planted a long time ago by the Russians. The plaques were really valuable and Tor had two. He wanted to collect all the remaining ones and secretly sell them to this guy he knew so he can retire, which was illegal. They later end up finding another plaque. Robbie started to suspect that Tor wanted to kill him for knowing his secret and Tor actually started threatening him at one point but never actually hurt him. Later in the story, they unfortunately got caught in a storm. Tor made Robbie tie the plaques to something floatable. After a while, Tor and the plaques went overboard. Robbie gets to safety and after the storm, finds the plaques but not Tor. He tells Tor’s daughter about the incident and gave the plaques to a museum. Robbie, due to all the salmon he caught, makes money. His family gets the boat and the ending turns out to be happy.

I recommend this book to anyone, especially to someone who loves the sea and fishing. The author used some fishing terms and names of certain parts of the boat, of course, and some of it might be hard to imagine or confusing unless you know about that stuff. Even if you don’t know a lot about fishing, like me, you can still have fun reading this book. It is a book filled with adventure and keeps you guessing about what will happen next. That concludes my book review on Leaving Protection by Will Hobbs.

[1Weinfurter B]

This book takes place in Port Protection, Southeast Alaska. 13-year-old Robbie is trying to earn some extra cash to save up for college. He has always fished the inside waters with his family on the Chimes of Freedom. After his birthday he’s headed out to Craig, a huge fishing port 20 or so miles away from home. Robbie has a hard time finding work, but after running in to a very known woman he gets lead to a popular boat. He is caught sneaking on the boat he was sent to and blows his chance until the skipper changes his mind. He doesn’t know it at the time but he is boarding a boat that belongs to a legend. The mans name is Tor Torsen and he owns the Storm Petrel. This man has a bad back problem and has weird mood swings, Robbie doesn’t no it yet but he has no clue what he has got himself into. When he was sneaking around he saw a rare Russian plaque that he new was very valuable. They go back and fourth telling about family and the history of the plaque. Robbie finds out that Tor’s wife died on the Storm Petrel and that he had a daughter who he doesn’t have contact with anymore. Robbie also learns that there are other Russian plaques buried along the coast and that was the main reason he was on board, to help find buried treasure. They catch lots and lots of fish more than Robbie ever expected but, Tor wasn’t much because the King Salmon market had inflated due to the fish farms producing all the fish. After 12 days of steady fishing they find their first Plaque and it gets really sketchy from there. Tor’s acting weird and all Robbie can think about is getting off the boat alive. On the last day a huge storm is blowing up and Robbie is catching fish like Tor the “legend” has never seen. With the biggest storm of either ones life on the way, they are on a race to the only safe place in a hole, surrounded by mountains called Lituya Bay. Tor is swept off the back of the boat trying to save the boat from sinking, and Robbie cant find him so he gives it all he's got to make it in Lituya Bay. I thought this book showed the true grit within a fisherman's Dailey life. What they go through and how they go about it. The little gismo's that all have a purpose to catch the fish. I think in the future as technology increases, the fisherman will continue to use technology to benefit them. Overall I liked the book considering a have a lake house in the Ozarks and it reminded me of fishing at the lake.

[Justyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

For my third quarter book I read Leaving Protection by Will Hobbs. I remember reading a book by Will Hobbs in middle school but never thought about reading his books in high school. I remember reading his books then and I actually enjoyed them. When I first started reading this book I thought I was going to hate it, but it turned out to be amazing and I could never put the book down surprisingly.

The book starts off with a teenage boy who is 16 and wants earn some money. Robbie Daniels leaves his home in Port Protection to head to the nearby fishing town of Craig. King Salmon season is less than 48 hours away and he is there looking for a job to work on a boat. Most skippers have already found a deck hand or few can afford to hire one.

The way Will Hobbs wrote this was good for what I like to find in a book. I liked how things flowed and nothing at all was really confusing. It had the moments where things got really intense but yet nothing was really boring that made me want to stop reading it. The genre of this book is realistic fiction so it seems like the actions that happen seem like real events. And that’s another reason why this book was very intriguing. It was like you could imagine yourself there or watching a TV show which is another thing I like to do.

The ending was something unexpected; it made a strange twist to the story. Though the story did make sense the way it ended I just didn't think it would happen. So that would be one thing I disliked about this story, the ending. As I was reading it I never thought of it ending how it did. But yet again it made sense.

This book was really about a hard working teen that proved himself to someone who thought he couldn't do it. I will definitely be reading more of Will Hobbs books because he writes about life experiences and turns them into great stories. The book had 192 pages with great lengths for chapters. It was easy to sit down for 10 minutes and read 2 paragraphs. I can’t wait to start reading more of his books and I definitely recommend it to others.

[Brad Z · Rating 3 out of 5]

I chose to read "leaving protection" by Will Hobbs because it sounded similar to the show I watch on the discovery channel called "deadliest catch" which is quite similar. Both the show and the book are taken place in Alaska, and in the show they are fishing for crab and in the book they are fishing for salmon. In the book their is a young boy named Robbie that works on the boat as a deckhand for Tor Torsen because he wanted to make some money. Robbie was a little scared at first because his captain "Tor" was a little on the "shady" side and Robbie sensed that Tor was doing something that he probably shouldn't of been doing. Robbie went along with it because he wasn't sure what would happen to himself. After while Robbie found out that Tor was searching and digging up ancient Russian plaques, which is illegal.
This made Robbie want to quit and go home but he knew he had a job to do and get done so he stuck it out, then in a bad storm Tor falls overboard and Robbie is all alone and has to make it Back to shore but Tor doesn't come up to the surface and he dies, but the plaques that he had with him came up and Robbie took them and he gets the boat and goods things happen to him. I really enjoyed reading this book because it made me want to keep reading to find out what was going to happen next. I would also recommend this book because it was a book that had something always happening and it wasn't just one thing happening which would really bore me.