BOOK 



MARKET 



Wrap Up Good 

 Books for Your 

 Favorite Kids 



Kids today yearn for murder 

 mysteries, fantasy tales and chilling 

 horror stories. If these genres tempt 

 children and teens to read rather than 

 watch television or play endless 

 computer games, then they serve a 

 noble purpose. But young folks are 

 also hungry to learn — whether they 

 admit it or not — and the following 

 books with coastal connections can 

 satisfy that appetite. 



• The Editor's Choice 



If you loved Taffy of Torpedo 

 Junction as a child and now want to 

 leave a copy under the tree for a 

 young person, count your blessings. 

 Just two years ago, this classic by 

 coastal writer Nell Wise Wechter was 

 out of print. But a letter-writing 

 campaign brought about its reissue 

 last year by the University of North 

 Carolina Press in Chapel Hill, and 

 now Taffy can once again bring 

 World War II adventure into a kid's 

 life. 



Even though I'm 25 years older 

 than the book's audience (10- to 12- 

 year-olds), I enjoyed every word just 

 the same, mostly because the author 

 wrote a fine story populated by good- 

 hearted characters. Wechter probably 

 met most of these characters, in one 



By Daun Daemon 



form or another, during her life on 

 the Outer Banks and as a school- 

 teacher there during the war. 



Set in the early 1940s, the adven- 

 ture is timeless. Thirteen-year-old 

 Taffy Willis, an orphan who lives 

 with her grandfather, is almost too 

 curious for her own good. Along with 

 her horse Sailor, boxer puppy Brandy 

 and an intrepid friend, she uncovers 

 treachery and subterfuge on Hatteras 

 Island. 



The waters off the coast had 

 become known as Torpedo Junction 

 because scores of allied ships were 

 sunk there by German submarines 

 lurking beneath the surface. In Taffy, 

 the mystery of how the Germans 

 could be successful with so many 

 allied patrols manning the shoreline 

 is solved. Taffy, Sailor and Brandy 

 are all drawn into the danger, but 

 they survive with their island 

 pluckiness intact. 



Taffy's beloved Gramp, who 

 speaks with a marked Outer Banks 

 brogue, knows his granddaughter is a 

 handful — a brave one at that. But he 

 allows her the loose reins to run wild- 

 hearted about the island while he 

 maintains a stern authority. The 

 resulting message Wechter sends to 

 parents and children alike is that kids 



who are trusted will thrive, no matter 

 how much incidental mischief they 

 find. 



• An Educator's Picks 



As media coordinator for the 

 Cape Hatteras School, Nancy Cowal 

 has developed a keen eye for books 

 that satisfy both her high standards 

 for educational materials and the 

 students' need for entertainment. 

 Below are some of her recommenda- 

 tions for those who want to give 

 children the gift of reading. All are 

 still in print and can be purchased at 

 or ordered through your favorite 

 bookstore. 



Theodore Taylor's Outer Banks 

 trilogy — Stranger From the Sea: 

 Teetoncey, Box of Treasures: 

 Teetoncey and Ben O'Neal and Into 

 the Wind: The Odyssey of Ben O'Neal 

 — will keep children in grades four 

 through six happily reading over their 

 Christmas break. First published more 

 than two decades ago, these adventure 

 novels set in the late 1 890s were 

 reissued in 1995 and — like Taffy of 

 Torpedo Junction — are delighting a 

 new generation of young readers with 

 stories so exciting kids won't realize 

 they're getting lessons in history at 

 the same time. 



28 HOLIDAY 1997 



