Major, Kevin. Ann and Seamus.

Art by David Blackwood. Groundwood. 109p. illus. c2003. 0-88899-561-X. $16.95. JS

This exquisitely produced book, by two famous Canadians, one a writer, the other an artist, tells about a historic event: the rescue in 1828 of 163 passengers shipwrecked off the coast of Newfoundland. A family who lived on the shore, the Harveys, including young Ann Harvey, heroically rescued the people and have been honored by the Royal Humane Society and are part of the local history of Newfoundland. Major tells the story in poetry, with Blackwood's illustrations in grays and blues interspersed in the narrative. Ann, from the shore, and Seamus, from the wrecked ship, share the narrative, taking turns to relate the action. Here is Ann when she spots the passengers: The sight that fills our eyes and ears/is of a sodden woeful band/clumped in mourning/expelling sharp confounded cries.

Seamus is a young Irish immigrant whose courage as the ship wrecks, as the desperate survivors huddle, sometimes flounders. After the rescue by Ann, her father and brother. Seamus is drawn to Ann and tries to persuade her to marry him and come away from the coast to an inland city. The last poems record her ambivalence and final decision.

This is not a story for everyone. Unlike other novels in poetry for YAs, Major's work is more poetry than novel. It very well could become a classic for Canadian young people, and especially for those who live near treacherous waters filled with lore of shipwrecks and rescues. Claire Rosser, KLIA TT

J--Recommended for junior high school students. The contents are of particular interest to young adolescents and their teachers.

S--Recommended for senior high school students.