Shipwreck Season — Donna Hill

Sixteen-year-old Daniel is appalled at the prospect of spending eight months at the lifesavers' station. And yet, in the autumn of 1880, Daniel finds himself on the train to Cape Cod, where he will live among the coarse, dull surfmen and take orders from his crude, unsympathetic uncle, Captain Alder, the man in charge. At first Daniel's new life seems as comfortless and unrewarding as he had imagined, but the work is unexpectedly challenging, and to his surprise Daniel finds himself beginning to respect and admire the surfmen who risk their lives to save those lost in shipwrecks off the coast. Breathtaking adventure punctuates this lively, insightful coming-of-age story. An afterword traces the history of U.S. lifesaving from its origins to the present-day Coast Guard.