Wind in the Rigging

Tod Moran series #5

by Howard Pease

Subtitled An Adventurous Voyage of Tod Moran on the Tramp Steamer "Sumatra" New York to North Africa

This is the fifth in a series of nautical adventure tales published primarily between the World Wars.

333 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1935

About the author

Howard Pease was an American writer of adventure stories from Stockton, California. Most of his stories revolved around a young protagonist, Joseph Todhunter ("Tod") Moran, who shipped out on tramp freighters during the interwar years.
Pease received two literary awards during his lifetime. In 1944, he received the California Commonwealth Book Award for his novel Thunderbolt House (reprinted by Scholastic as Mystery at Thunderbolt House, published that year, and in 1946 he was awarded the Children's Book Award from the Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College of Education "for a book that deals realistically with problems in the child's world" for his novel Heart of Danger.

Reviews

[Vis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This young adult adventure story written in 1935 is very much of its time. Pease used his own experience working on cargo ships to bring interest and realism to the duties and work required of his characters while on board their steamer.

If perhaps some of the character interactions were portrayed in a simplistic and idealised fashion, Pease nevertheless created a certain level of suspense as his young protagonist moved from New York City to Casablanca and eventually a Berber stronghold in the Moroccan desert.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic adventure tales for boys, sadly out of favor and almost gone from memory.