The Pearl-shell Diver is a definite keeper. It opens the door to so many new points of view for this time. I sincerely hope The Pearl-shell Diver is the first in a series. Not all white men do the right thing, not everything that happens is fair and people die. Some will be immersed its the action and suspense, others will be entranced by details of island living, while others will turn the pages to find out what happens to Sario, his family and friends.īe warned. Readers of all ages will enjoy this tale. The Pearl-shell Diver, told from Sario’s point of view, is a perfect introduction to Torres Strait Island life in the late 19th century. Who decides if a boy stays with his family or is taken away to work? Who protects the rights of islanders and children? Have things changed in the last 120 years? The inclusion of politics and power plays of the time are upsetting and confusing but very real. Goodreads members who liked The Pearl-shell Diver also liked: Apples. He can earn more as a pump diver, and is excited by the idea of walking on the sea floor, but the competition is fierce, and the only captain who will take him on runs the worst. This journey into Torres Strait Island life is gentle, lyrical, eye-opening. Find books like The Pearl-shell Diver from the world’s largest community of readers. When his father is coerced to join a white trader on his pearling lugger, thirteen-year-old Sario must go to work as a swimming diver to support the family. Worst of all, one white trader decides he will take Sario as his diving boy whether Sario wants to go or not.

Sario’s sister is deaf, also as a result of diving. Sario’s mother’s lungs are permanently damaged from diving too deep for too long when she was young. But trouble also comes with the white man. Allen & Unwin, Juvenile Fiction - 192 pages. Images courtesy of publishers, organizations, and sometimes their Twitter handles. The Pearl-shell Diver: A Story of Adventure from the Torres Strait. The pearl-shell diver : a story of adventure from the Torres Strait / Kay Crabbe. White traders visit their island to trade cloth, flour, salt and trinkets for pearl shells and dried sea slugs. The Pearl-shell Diver: A Story of adventure from the Torres Strait. They search nearby reefs for produce hoisting woven leaf-mat sails in their dugout tree canoe to traverse familiar harvesting sites.

Thirteen-year-old Sario and his family live on the proceeds of land and sea on a remote island in the Torres Strait.

The Pearl-shell Diver by Kay Crabbe