Chapter Book: Yes Genre: Fiction
Bacigalupi, P. (2010). Ship breaker. New York: Little, Brown and Company.
The story Ship Breaker is about the adventures of a young man named Nailer who learns the true meaning of family and friendship. The story takes place on a beach somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico near Mississippi and New Orleans. The main characters are adults and children who perform slave labor on grounded oil tankers for large corporations who import and export goods and services up and down the Mississippi River. In addition; the main characters make their living by scavenging ships that have been wrecked and abandoned by hurricanes aka city killers. One day after a terrible hurricane while searching for food Nailer, and his friend Pima discovers an abandoned ship with a young girl aka swank, pinned down by furniture below deck barely alive and that is where their adventure begins.
After discovering Nita aka Lucky girl, Nailer and Pima must decide if they will take their newly found riches and live happily ever after or risk everything and save this dying girl’s life. Since Nailer had been so close to death himself just a few short days ago and someone saved him, he decided that he would save the girl not knowing that it would cost him dearly, not knowing that he would have make the ultimate sacrifice. There were no illustrations for this story however; I thought Bacigalupi did a great job of very vividly portraying each character and every scene. It is interesting to note that while reading this story I was reminded of C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and how Lewis made fantastic characters come to life. Moreover, I thought some of the characters and chapters in Ship Breaker had elements of fantasy. For example: because of Nita's weakened state, the three decide to camp out until they could come up with a solution to how they will deal with their present situation. Meanwhile, Nailer's father Richard Lopez, and some of his crew have discovered them and have taken them hostage for scavenge. His crew includes giant like creatures, half man half breast, and a huge blue-eyed witch-like woman.
If you are between the age of 12 and above and you enjoy reading adventure, mystery, and fantasy I would highly recommend this book. In addition, I would suggest The Hunger Game, Sofi Mendoza’s Guide to Getting Lost in Mexico, and the companion novel to Ship Breaker, The Drowned Cities. I believe that all of these stories have elements of mystery and adventure. For more information about each story you can visit these websites: http://www.amazon.com/Ship-Breaker-Paolo-Bacigalupi/dp/0316056219 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kM7mxk3-ZU, http://www.amazon.com/The-Hunger-Games-Suzanne-Collins/dp/0439023483
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