Adrift — Michael Hogan

Sebastian Linus Youngfield is sailing the world with his parents, Cameron and Anne, when their voyage takes a dramatic turn in the South Pacific. A massive storm blows in leaving Sebastian adrift at sea in a small dinghy. To survive the adventures ahead, he must cast fear into the depths and summon every skill learned in his young life.

Intent on catching a few fish in the early morning hours, Sebastian rows a dinghy to the far side of a tiny island off which the family sailboat is anchored. Unaware of Sebastian's absence, his father Cameron awakens to discover a storm quickly moving in. He lifts anchor and sets sail for another island group hundreds of miles away.

The tropical storm blows in hard and fast. When Sebastian rows the dinghy back around the island his parents and their sailboat are gone. And he is no match for the wind and waves that drive him further out into the open sea. By the time his parents discover he is missing, they are far away and must struggle mightily through the storm to make it back. Their return to the tiny island is met with tragedy as one of Sebastian's parents is washed overboard and their sailboat wrecked upon its rocky shore.

Sebastian's love of fishing helps him endure the following days adrift at sea. But his predicament has taken its toll and makes him question his sanity. He awakens one morning to a nip on his toe by a strange green pelican who alerts him to a nearby island. But one minute the island is there and the next it is not. The loud and steady sound of surf pounding against a coral reef gives a clue as to whether Sebastian has lost his mind, or found renewed hope in a tiny bit of land in the middle of the vast ocean.