Reading: The Wanderer by Sharon Creech

I first bought The Wanderer by Sharon Creech from a Scholastic book fair when I was 11 years old.  I read it a year later when I was 12 in 6th grade and loved it so much that I would read it during class.  I figured this 50 book challenge was a perfect opportunity to re-read it.  The Wanderer is about a young girl named Sophie who dreams of the sea.  Her uncles have decided to sail across the Atlantic ocean to visit their father, Bompie, and Sophie decides to accompany them much against their wishes as they are sailors and believe a woman to be bad luck. 
Throughout the story the narration flips back and forth from Sophie to her cousin Cody.  Both are needed to provide a balance to the story.  What one does not know, the other one discovers and therefore makes the read an easy one.  This style of narration also freshens the book as well as providing a less "cheesy" way of revealing important plot points.  The story itself seems to be about acceptance and love and learning to respect one another.  This theme comes about through Sophie and Cody's interaction with each other, the other family members, and the sea itself.  Cody and Sophie both are very unique in their narration.  Each has their own special quality and hobby.  Sophie loves to tell stories about Bompie and Cody loves to juggle!  Yet there is a small mystery inside these pages.  How can Sophie possibly have heard these stories from Bompie if she never met him before?  Let alone, how could she have heard them since she is only adopted?
What makes this story moving is their time at sea.  Time itself is questioned when they are out at the ocean until time does not seem real.  Sophie begins to forget what morning really means or nighttime.  This theme is great to see in a young adult book since time is such a huge element in our society and although I did not pick up on it as a young reader, I hope other readers pick up on this subtle theme of time and how it runs our lives.
The story is essentially a journey for Sophie toward her own self discovery and the same goes for Cody.  Overall, this novel was great.  It is a young adult novel borderline children's novel so this is something where I find it hard to criticize but overall I enjoyed it thoroughly and give it a 5 out of 5 stars!