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Fifteen minutes off the beautiful coast of Woods Hole, Massachusetts, sits an island,
part of the Elizabeth Islands, called Penikese --- and the school where Daniel Robb worked
is named for the island on which it is located. Working with troubled teenage boys, Robb
ends up as a modern-day "Sir" or Mr. Chips --- a schoolmaster who understands
all too clearly how difficult the lives of his students are, trying to speak their
language, trying to gain their respect, trying to help them find hope in the midst of an
everyday struggle. CROSSING THE WATER is a first-person narrative of Robb's adventures in
boysitting.
The kids are toughs and come across like Boston-accented versions of The Jets from
"West Side Story." They are not too tough, however, to try to revive field mice
with CPR or explore their heartfelt feelings with Robb in private. Like any
brave-young-man-trains-the-improverished-tough tale, there are good days and there are
bad. But unlike the S. E. Hinton novels, in which some of the boys' personal stories echo,
CROSSING THE WATER does not build these boys' lives into dramatic revelry --- instead,
Robb's impressions of them ebb and flow like the waves outside their school grounds, and
he learns more from them than perhaps they learn from him.
Just because their every other word is a provocative obscenity, don't write these kids
off. The things they want to discuss with their teachers (at one point, they want to talk
about swallows!) will surprise the reader --- these kids have brains and seem to enjoy
using them, in their own fashion. Along with studying the three R's and other academic
pursuits, these kids have to tackle the Sturm und Drang of their own lives, too, in
relation to what they see happening around them. Their honesty, and the bravery they
exhibit by that honesty, will move even the most jaded reader.
Robb's story may be one that we have heard variations on before, but the scene is very
different --- in the isolation and beauty the island presents, some young boys who never
had hope find their hearts and souls in sand and trees and the quiet understanding of a
teacher who truly wants to help.
--- Reviewed by Jana Siciliano
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