Tonight, by Sea

by Frances Temple

Book Overview

Seek life. Chache Lavi. That's what Paulie's uncle says they must do. But to seek life, Paulie and her family have to leave Haiti-the only home that Paulie has ever known. Since forever, Paulie has run in and out of the little houses nestled under the palms, smelling cocoa-bread and playing on the beach with her best friend Karyl. But now the little houses are gone. Their wood has been made into boats-boats used to escape Haiti. Paulie wants to stay...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0064406709
• ISBN13: 9780064406703
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.1" x 7.6"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

Ehh

I thought this was really good. Kinda dissapointed by the end but goood. highly suggest it

Good story, accurate picture

I wish every body would read this and other stories like it. It was well-written and helps people to understand why there are so many people fleeing from Haiti. Stories like this help to give compassion and understanding to a beautiful island nation that is racked with poverty and civil unrest, yet only 1.5 hours flight from US soil.

Dying to be free

Tonight by Sea may have grammatical and orthographical errors such as "Belle Fleuve" for either "Beau Fleuve" (in French) or "Bèl Flèv" (in Creole) or stylistic inconsistencies and incongruities as in the speech pattern of the character Sadrak who is a teacher but sometimes speaks like an uneducated person. But Frances Temple's novel for young adults succeeds in capturing the atmosphere that lead hundreds of Haitian people to risk their lives in rickety boats to "Chache lavi," Seek Life in the U.S. As the story evolves, the reader is treated to an overview of Haitian History and culture and, at the same time, comes to realize that, put in the same situation, he or she might have done the same. A story about the will to survive. A story that rehabilitates the image of the Haitian Boat People. Tonight by Sea is a story that needed to be told.