When Nick was adopted and his sister Penny was left behind in the Florida orphanage they ran away and hid all night in a sailboat. Thus they met Ben, a very good guy who was having his own troubles trying to keep his uncle from selling the boat. Ben was sure if he could find the Lion’s Paw, a rare shell, his father, who had been reported missing would come back from the war, so he took the youngsters on as crew and they headed for Captiva Island in the Gulf of Mexico… Robb White writes so vividly, so forcefully of Florida sun and storm and with such sympathy for youthful hopes that 10 to 14 year olds won’t grudge the crew a single bit of their prowess.
The Lion’s Paw by Robb White. Originally published in 1946. My edition is A. W. Ink Publishing, 2008. Total page count of 243 pages.
This is one of the rare times you will catch me reading and reviewing non only a NON-horror title, but also a young adult / middle grade book. 😮 It is rare but it does occasionally still happen.
See….. 20+ years ago, this little Creature was in middle school and one of my teachers would read us stories. This was one of the books she read to us, but she never finished it! And I couldn’t remember the authors name or the title. So for 20+ years I kept this book in my brain, attempting to find it every now and then. It was hard to find when I couldn’t really recall much about it, other then some kids looking for shells in Florida. Long story short, I finally found the book in November 2021. 😀 I had waited for so long to read this book, would it live up to the joy I remembered from middle school??
Yes. Yes it did.
The Lion’s Paw is such a pure, innocent, fun adventure read. Likable characters, intense setting, dangerous locations, and a happy ending that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. This was worth the time, and energy of tracking down. Well worth reading.
The pacing is quick and you move fast through the story. It is very easy to read, although there are a lot of nautical terms that I didn’t really know or understand that well. The author just says them like everyone already knows them. He never explains any of the terms. Luckily you get the gist of what they mean by context clues, so you are never truly lost.
I couldn’t be happier with The Lion’s Paw. What a great book. 😀
Creature From The Book Lagoon 