When and Osprey Sails

Jami van Haaften is a librarian and author of An Index to Selected
Canadian Provincial Government Publications for Librarians, Teachers and
Booksellers.

The author has lived in Nova Scotia since 1976. She and her husband sail during the summer and spend the winter at West Dublin.

The Osprey in this book cruises off the coast of Nova Scotia. Basing her story on an actual cruise, Patricia McKenzie-Porter creates a fictional adventure, bringing a brother and sister together with their father and step-mother for a summer vacation.

This story of sailing and adventure at sea will appeal to young readers. A major part of the book dwells on the divorce and remarriage of the father. If the reader feels like skipping ahead to the adventure part of the story, he will be aided by printing errors in the second and third chapters, which leave some blank pages.

A glossary of sailing terms, detailed sketches of the Osprey, and a map of the route taken in a chase of smugglers greatly enhance the story and involve the reader in the plight of Mark and Jane as they cope with life at sea.

The Writers Federation of Nova Scotia award for fiction for young readers was awarded to Pat McKenzie-Porter for this work. Her interest in sailing may produce additional knowledgeable stories of maritime adventure.