Driven from his home by the Ku Klux Klan and still reeling from the death of his mother, Nathan moves with his father and grandfather to the desolate Pea Island on the Outer Banks of North Carolina to start a new life. Fortunately, life on Pea Island at the end of the 19th century is far from quiet. The other island residents include the surfmen--the African American crew of the nearby U.S. Life-Saving Station--and soon Nathan is lending an extra hand to these men as they rescue sailors from sinking ships. Working and learning alongside the courageous surfmen, Nathan begins to dream of becoming one himself. But the reality of post-Civil War racism starts to show itself as he gradually realizes the futility of his dream. And then another dream begins to take shape, one that Nathan refuses to let anyone take from him.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

The year is 1895 and young Nathan Williams wants nothing more than to be a "storm warrior," one of the brave men of the U.S. Lifesaving Service on Pea Island, off the North Carolina shore. Again and again, Nathan has helped the team rescue frightened sailors from floundering ships during the winter storm season. But Nathan's father is a fisherman, and he expects Nathan to be the same. After all, Pea Island is the single station open to African American surfmen, and the precious few jobs are passed from father to son. Still, Nathan is coached in lifesaving skills by the Pea Island crew and dares to hope that one day he may share in their ranks. But after helping with a particularly difficult rescue, Nathan is forced to face the truth: "In that moment I knew, without a shred of doubt, that I did not have the courage to risk my life that way. The dream, and all the months of hoping, blew away as quickly as the foam off the waves." After a close friend makes clear the obvious, Nathan realizes that there are other ways to save lives and discovers his true destiny.

With Storm Warriors, Elisa Carbone has illuminated a fascinating corner of history that is both exciting and meaningful. The novel, based on real people and actual shipwrecks, will be devoured by fans of true adventure stories such as Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild and Jennifer Armstrong's Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World. (Ages 11 and older) --Jennifer Hubert

I totally disagree with the two reviews below! This was a wonderful book detailing an amazing part of history. The characters were well developed and the storyline was gripping. I felt connected to all of the characters in this book and I loved the fact that the story was historically accurate. I thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end and I will definitly look for other books written by this author. Her writing is refreshing.

The waves crashed up on the shore. We were the last hope for the boat stranded out in the waves. Storm Warriors is about a young boy who is growing up when there is much discrimination. He hopes to grow up to be a surfman, a person who is part of the all black Pea Island Life-Saving Station. He is repeatedly told by his father and others that he will never be able to achieve his dream. He borrows some medical books from one of the surfman and learns all that he can, memorizing every page. One day he is ordered to help treat a man who has frostbite and succeeds, saving the man's life. This is how he gets what he wants, but in a different way than he expects. This book was not very good because of the vocabulary and detail that was used.
The way this book was written makes it sound as if it were written by a caveman. Examples like "powerful good" or "powerful hungry" show the author does not know how to use those words. They make it very confusing to read, even though you know what he means. You sometimes have to read several of these sections over two or three times to comprehend.
This book also does not display emotions very well. It sometimes just says "I was mad" or "It made me happy" and those are not very descriptive words and could be changed. The author did not tie in the boy's emotions and just states the obvious. It makes it like you are talking to a two year old.
The way that the author makes the child behave doesn't really make sense. If he was a ten year old boy then why did they make him work with the injured? How many kids ten years old would not react at all to a man whose arm has a piece of wood sticking through it and has a concussion? The child would not have reacted this way in real life so the way that he was described in the book is very unrealistic.
This is a very bad book and you should not read it. If you can read bad language easily and comprehend it, then this book might be acceptable. It's principle was good and it might have originally been a good book, but the way it was written was not very good.
JDE

11/29/03

Storm Warriors
Elisa Carbone
ISBN 0-440-41879-8

The surfman motto: "You have to go out, but you don't have to come back."

Storm Warriors is about a kid Nathan who lives in Roanoke Island. One day he wants to become a surfman so he can row out in a boat with five other rowers and save sailors during a storm. This all takes place after the Civil War. It's a non-fiction book.
I found the book to be an okay book. It grabbed your attention most of the time but it didn't really seem all too interesting. The time that it'd grab your attention would be at the end of the chapter. It'd make you wonder what's going to happen next. The whole surfman thing was pretty cool. I'd never heard of surfmen before until I read this book. It was also a very short easy book though. It was only 158 pages long. It was in big letters and it was double spaced so it was short. I find short books like that to be boring because there weren't enough details. I recommend this book to people in like sixth grade. If you're older then in sixth grade and have a really slow reading level then this would be for you. Or if you like the sea and adventuress boat saving stories then you'd like this.

This is an interesting book because it is about an unfamiliar subject and time in history. Readers will learn a lot about the "surfmen" who rescue crews of crashed ships as they follow the story of Nathan, a boy who wants to someday be a part of it all. I purchased the book because it is nominated for the Rebecca Caudill Award this year, but I have yet to read it with or to any students. Due to some images and language I would recommend it for students older than 5th grade. As a read-aloud, it could be thoroughly discussed, which would be necessary for understanding for middle school children.

In the world of 1895, Nathan, a young Negro boy, dreams of becoming one of the black surfmen on Pea Island, saving the lives of sailors and passengers shipwrecked off the coast of North Carolina. When his father tells him the odds are against him, Nathan believes the problem is racism. However, in his first summer on the island, he learns there are other hindrances, and perhaps other dreams.

This book, inspired by real life characters, tells a part of American history many of us have never seen or heard. The men of the life-saving stations, both black and white, were brave and true to their professions. It's a good read for young and old.

The only thing that did not quite ring true was the language of the characters. Most spoke near perfect English and given their times and their backgrounds, there should have been at least a hint of a lack of education, perhaps even of their southernness.

Elisa Carbone has created a good read, a story for anyone interested in the dangerous North Carolina coast, American history in the late 19th century, or in the dreams of the young.