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| Reviewed by: Adrienne on 19-Aug-05 Rating: 10/10 Audience: Kids |
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| This is one of the best adventure stories I've ever read -- bar none! Professor William Waterman Sherman sets out from San Francisco in a hot-air balloon with the intention of circumnavigating the globe, taking a year to do it. Why, then, is he rescued mere weeks later from a huge wooden platform in the Atlantic Ocean, with the remains of twenty-one balloons? Set around the time of the cataclysmic eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, the book's excitement really begins when Professor Sherman crash-lands on the island's shores and is met by the improbable sight of a man in an impeccable white morning suit. Introducing himself as Mr. F, the man introduces Professor Sherman to the egalitarian society established on the island, and its "restaurant government." Author du Bois has created an amazingly vivid world in which diamonds play a big role, the population of the island is governed according to food, and the storytelling is second-to-none. A great tale for people of all ages! |
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