“It was the sea that Mafatu feared. He had been surrounded by it every since he was born. The thunder of it filled his ears; the crash of it upon the reef, the mutter of it at sunset, the threat and fury of its storms – on every hand, wherever he turned – the sea.” (page 8)

Every Wednesday, I teach adult yoga in a middle school library. As I wander around adjusting postures and observing my students, books will occasionally catch my eye, particulary those on the ‘recommended’ table.

Armstrong Sperry was awarded the Newberry Honour for this book in 1941. It’s not long and would probably be appropriate for an advanced reader as young as 7 or 8. It’s a good story – exciting and well-told. It held my interest and kept me guessing.

However, this book is a product of its time – it was written two years before my own mother was born. Put simply, it’s sexist, racist and biased against pacific cultures. The bias is not subtle – islanders are depicted as mad cannibals and a carved statue on an island described as ‘a grotesque idol, hideously ugly’. Incredibly, women do not even seem to exist in this island culture. The only reference to females is a disparagement of ‘women’s work.’

But the book portrays the main character, the boy Mafatu with sympathy and warmth. After losing his mother to the sea, Mafatu is frightened and his fear prevents him from fishing and proving his worth to his community in seafaring. Mafatu runs away and uses the skills he learned on his island (including the dreaded ‘women’s work’ to survive and return home.

This is a great book for young people to read in order to understand cultural relativism and how cultural bias can even taint a simple story.