Night Journeys

By Avi

Book Overview

In this colonial adventure tale, set on the Pennsylvania-New Jersey border in 1768, Everett Shinn is enlisted in a search for two runaway indentured servants. Eager for adventure and to become a hero by capturing the runaways himself, 12-year-old Peter York, Shinn's adopted son, volunteers to join the search. Peter assumes that the runaways are swarthy ruffians. When he discovers, however, that they are mistreated children seeking freedom in Pennsylvania, Peter's purpose turns from capturing them to helping them escape. Will Shinn, a devout Quaker of few words, foil Peter's plans, or will the young man receive help from an unexpected source? Avi is an award-winning author. He has written two Newbery Honor books, won the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and an ALA Booklist Best Book of the 1980s. Narrator Jeff Woodman captures all the danger and excitement of this tightly-plotted suspense, and keeps the book moving as rapidly as the flooded Delaware River.

• Format: Audio CD
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1664420258
• ISBN13: 9781664420250
• Release Date: December 1997
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Suspenseful, ages 11 and up.

Ages 11and up, suspenseful!! Amish Characters are thrust into a situation that tests family bonds. As the hand of the law seeks fugitives, characters find out the costs of personally seeking justice over charity and find their paradigms changing.

A struggle within....

Set in pre-Revolutionary Philadelphia, this is the story of young Peter, orphaned and then adopted - for reasons he does not understand - by a Quaker family. He does not understand their ways - their non-violent approach, the deep reflections on what he thinks are simple, everyday things. When a runaway indentured servant is found by the Quaker farmer, Peter cannot understand why this man is willing to turn her over to those who pursue her and will bring her back to a life that seemsunfair. She escapes, but her 10 year old friend is captured, and Peter must answer his own calling. In the end, he and his adopted father come to understand and appreciate each other. The(adoptive) Quaker father is sorely misunderstood by Peter, but also has to face some of his own short-comings. Peter also has to stop running, and listen more intently to others. Not a truly excellent book, but a nice period piece, good for boys who are dealing with similar emotion in these times, and good for girls, because the young girl is a strong character.

The Unexpected Ending

Have you ever read a truly wonderful book? I mean a book where every tiny detail sticks in your brain? A book that takes you on an adventure or to a world that you've never seen or heard of? Well, if you haven't here's your opportunity. When you read 'Night Journeys' by Avi you feel like your right in the middle of the story along with the main characters Peter, Elizabeth, Robert, and Mr.Shinn. When Peter looses his family to an unexpected illness he is taken in by Mr.Shinn. When they are informed that slaves are loose, Peter and Mr.Shinn go off in search of them. Will Peter save the day? Do you want to find out if they find the slaves or not? What will happen if they do? HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!