Low Tide

by William Mayne

Fishing along Jade Bay, part of an island off the coast of New Zealand, Charlie, Wiremu, and Charlie's sister, Elizabeth, discover a long-lost ship--which takes them to a far-off land. By the Carnegie Medal-winning author of Drift.

197 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

William Mayne was a British writer of children's fiction. Born in Hull, he was educated at the choir school attached to Canterbury Cathedral and his memories of that time contributed to his early books. He lived most of his life in North Yorkshire.

He was described as one of the outstanding children's authors of the 20th Century by the Oxford Companion to Children's Literature, and won the Carnegie Medal in 1957 for A Grass Rope and the Guardian Award in 1993 for Low Tide. He has written more than a hundred books, and is best known for his Choir School quartet comprising A Swarm in May, Choristers' Cake, Cathedral Wednesday and Words and Music, and his Earthfasts trilogy comprising Earthfasts, Cradlefasts and Candlefasts, an unusual evocation of the King Arthur legend.

A Swarm in May was filmed by the Children's Film Unit in 1983 and a five-part television series of Earthfasts was broadcast by the BBC in 1994.

William Mayne was imprisoned for two and a half years in 2004 after admitting to charges of child sexual abuse and was placed on the British sex offenders' register. His books were largely removed from shelves, and he died in disgrace in 2010.

Reviews

[Alicia · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's not often that I quit reading a book and I never expected to quit a book written for children as children often need a lot more to catch their attention. But this is written terribly and I just didn't want to waste my time on it any longer than I already had. I don't remember exactly how I cam to have this book, I think I've had it for years and years but never read it, now I know why... I remember loving William Mayne's stories about Hob and the Goblins, but this book written for older children; it just doesn't pull you in at all. So no I didn't finish it... onto something better :)

[C.roberts · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book a few years aqo with my son and then with my daughter, who is a few years older.

This book is absolute garbage. It is extremely poorly written, goes nowhere, and makes children detest reading for years to come. I can't believe such a jumble of boring nonsense ever got published.

[Emily]

For geography

[WSL Library]

X2

[Ben Virant · Rating 2 out of 5]

to boring