Product Description

It is 1889, and growing up as the only child on a small island off the coast of Washington State has taught Clementine Nesbitt to be self-assured and capable, especially in her boat, the Fisherbird. But her confidence is shaken one foggy day as she finds herself rescuing a Chinese man who has been thrown overboard from a ship. The nearly drowned man, Tong Ling, was trying to find a new life in America, but instead finds himself at the mercy of heartless smugglers. Clementine and her friend Jed Parsons are sure that they can save Tong Ling by sneaking him to a nearby town where he can escape to Alaska. But will Sarah Hersey, the orphaned girl living with Clem's family, reveal their plan and put them all in danger? And does that danger come from within Clementine's own beloved family? This intriguing novel, punctuated by Clementine's heartfelt poems at the outset of each chapter, explores not only the beautiful San Juan Islands and their fascinating history, but also the complexities of good and evil in every human heart.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2343420 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 200 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 4-7-It's 1889 in the San Juan Islands, and the prejudice against Chinese immigrants becomes immediately obvious when several men are rudely turned away from the funeral of Clem's beloved Uncle Doran's business partner whom they admired. When the deceased man's daughter comes to live with the 13-year-old's family, Clem's peaceful life is disturbed. Jealous of pretty, petite Sarah, 15, she seeks refuge in her boat, Fisherbird. She rescues Tong-Ling, an illegal immigrant thrown overboard when the Border Patrol surprises a smuggler, who later turns out to be Clem's uncle. She and her friend Jed devise a dangerous plan to get the man to the mainland. The girl's innate sense of the right thing to do by Tong-Ling is balanced by her resentment of Sarah who, now engaged to Clem's uncle, gets swept into the adventure. Throughout, Clem's lists, both practical and philosophical, and made on hoarded pieces of paper, turn out to be almost poetic counterpoints to the action. Readers will enjoy the gradual uncovering of Doran's true nature as he ruthlessly pursues the Fisherbird and its passengers. Martin ably juggles several themes, providing readers with a heroine in the tradition of Avi's Charlotte Doyle. An author's note provides background on the plight of the Chinese in 19th-century America. A fast-paced, high-stakes historical mystery.
Carol A. Edwards, Sonoma County Library, Santa Rosa, CA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 5-7. The year is 1889, and 13-year-old Clem and her parents live isolated on an island off Washington State. Though Clem loves her family and their home, she longs to leave for a while, to go to school with other children. Her beloved uncle asks the family to take in a 15-year-old orphan, but Clem doesn't really warm up to ladylike Sarah. However, when the two girls and a friend sail up the coast to save a Chinese American from renewed attempts to murder him, they share a series of frightening ordeals and begin to respect and care for one another. The theme of prejudice against Chinese immigrants is integral to the plot, but it occasionally stands out from the narrative in a rather purposeful way. Still, Clem emerges as a sympathetic heroine and the Washington coast setting makes an unusual and colorful backdrop for the adventure story. The appended author's note and bibliography relate mainly to the history of the Chinese in America. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
Nora Martin has written three young adult novels: A Perfect Snow (a Junior Library Guild selection), The Stone Dancers, and The Eagle's Shadow, which was listed as a Bank Street College Best Book of the Year and noted as an ALA Best Trade Book for Social Studies. She is a school librarian in rural Montana.

Customer Reviews

Flight Of The Fisherbird
Set in the late 1880's, the story revolves around the experiences of thirteen year old Clementine Nesbitt, who, despite her lack of a formal education, has developed a knack for poetry. Clementine's life in the San Juan Islands has been embedded in a safe and secure home, surrounded by a loving trusting family. Her world is shattered when she pulls out a nearly dead man out of the sea. The events following this incident not only place Clementine in danger, but also threaten the security and trust she has had for her family. She is also faced with the complexities of good and bad, the vague line between that which is morally right and that which is illegal. The book also exposes the plight of the 19th century Chinese immigrants in America, and by doing so, exposes the plight of the average American immigrant. It is simply written, honest and punctuated with poetry

"Flight Of The Fisherbird"
The book "Flight Of The Fisherbird," was really good. Clementime {Clem} Nesbitt, who is around 12 or 13 years old. She absolutely loves the sea. Although her family hates it, she doesn't care what they think. The only person who understands her is her uncle. Soon after she went to the sea her uncle died. They didn't know what caused his death. Clem still went to the sea just to be alone. Now she was very confused.

When she's in her boat she loves to write rhymes in her notebook. One day when she is at the sea she looked for things. She sometimes finds garbage, valuables, and one time she even found a real person. The man was about to die and she couldn't just leave him there so she brought the man home. Her parents were really mad but they helped the man. Clem didn't know what they would do and she was shocked that they brought him in. Then her parents got her some new things but what were they?

I absolutely loved this book! You never know what will happen next. It will keep you on the edge of your seat the whole way through. I would recommend this book to teenagers and adults.

Richie's Picks: FLIGHT OF THE FISHERBIRD
Where the Night Comes From

Hard from the east,
Pushing daylight into the sea.
From under logs and beach rocks,
Seeping out like a small trickle of water.
Bubbling out of the mouths of fish,
From under leaves.
From fear.

FLIGHT OF THE FISHERBIRD is an edgy historic novel for younger readers--an ideal tale for fifth graders studying American history. Set among the San Juan Islands of the Pacific Northwest in the autumn of 1889, the main character, Clem (Clementine) Nesbitt, is a long-limbed, thirteen year-old girl without formal education who has a knack for writing lists that sound like poetry and who had arrived in the world immediately upon her parent's arrival from Scotland. Living on a relatively sheltered island, she's as handy with her seventeen-foot dory, the Fisherbird, as most kids are today with their mountain bikes.

"As she sat, stunned, a burst of bubbles rose to the surface beside the Fisherbird. She leaned over the side of her boat. Something large and brown was sinking slowly...Clem grabbed the metal hook secured to a long pole that she used for hooking large fish. She jabbed the pole down through the water as far down as she could reach, just snagging the sinking lump. The heavy mass caught hard so that Clem had to brace her legs against the boat to hold onto the end of the pole. Her grip was fragile, and Clem felt her hands grow slick with sweat. She was afraid that at any moment the pole would slide out of her hand, letting whatever it was sink into the grasping currents of deep water. "Clem pulled the pole as hard as she could, hand over hand. She heard herself grunt with muscle strain until she could raise the mass. Slowly it began to surface. More bubbles escaped, and Clem could see whatever she held was wrapped in burlap. "As the wet fabric hit the air,Clem fell to her knees and leaned over the water to grab it. To her shock, through the rip made by the grappling hook, a hand suddenly thrust out and grabbed on to her wrist, pulling her to the edge of the Fisherbird."

That hand is attached to a nearly-dead middle-aged Chinese immigrant, Tong-Ling, who is a victim of the Expulsion Act and of that sweltering atmosphere of extreme anti-Chinese sentiment during the late 1800s that spawned such laws. The irony, in the case of Tong Ling, is that he is being demonized daily as an unwelcome foreigner by "real" Americans who have been in the country less than half the time that he has. (Not to say that life-long Americans of Chinese descent were being treated any better.)

"...Clem saw the wave coming. She knew even before it hit that it would come right over their bow. 'Bail!' she yelled"

This fast-plotted tale opens shortly after the suspicious death of Clem's Uncle Doran's business partner. The two other young characters in the story are Jed, the easy-going, competent young boy, and Sarah, the educated and attractive (prissy and stuck-up, to Clem's way of thinking) daughter of the dead business partner. As she is forced into dealing with Sarah, Clem experiences feelings of incompetence, inferiority, and jealousy that readers will identify with.

Furthermore, FLIGHT OF THE FISHERBIRD provides young readers with an absorbing story about prejudice in US history and will hopefully cause those students to begin connecting that dreadful sentiment of the past with the problems involving intolerance of those who are "different" which are still occurring today.