From Publishers Weekly
Marked by the same surreal quality found in Lisle's Afternoon of the Elves , this enchanting tale is set in an imaginary coastal town repeatedly deluged by terrible storms. The hero, Eric, is a boy who seeks a lampfish--a rare, elusive creature whose bones provide fishhooks for residents of the village. During the course of the book, an ancient, half-crazed seaman named Cantrip teaches Eric to view both the lampfish and the world in a new light by leading the boy on an incredible journey to a land beneath the ocean where time and motion are nonexistent. As in the author's previous works, the theme that truth lies in the eye of the beholder is poetically conveyed throughout. Halperin's atmospheric, multi-paneled illustrations amplify the novel's eerie tone and match the eloquence of the text. Readers who fancy such classics as A Wrinkle in Time and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe will treasure this story as it tickles the imagination and challenges preconceived notions about reality and illusion. Ages 10-up. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
Grade 4-8-- Along the coastline of Twill, life is precarious. Murderous currents, deadly whirlpools, and violent storms so endanger the lives of its fisher folk that the standard greeting is "Congratulations"--for having survived another day. "Weeps" or wakes for drowned friends are common. Celebrations, like those after the netting of a giant lampfish, whose bones make fishhooks and whose meat feeds an entire village, are few and riotous. The story focuses on two inhabitants of this imagined but recognizable landscape. Orphaned Eric lives with his unsentimental Aunt Opal, lavishing love meant for his drowned parents on Gully, a sea gull he rescued from the waves and raised from infancy. Eric's obsessive attempts to net a lampfish single-handed are thwarted by the mysterious, half-mad Ezekiel Cantrip, the only known survivor of a descent into a whirlpool. Zeke draws Eric into another world, one made actual in the context of the fantasy. Eric is forever changed by his encounter with an ambiguous, charismatic man who may be a "wily trickster" or a "wise traveler and friend." Lisle tackles issues similar to those Natalie Babbitt chooses in Tuck Everlasting (Farrar, 1985), issues of freedom and control, as characters confront the dark forces of nature and death. The sensitive black-and-white pictures, reminiscent of Victorian illustration, beautifully complement a thoughtful exploration of the cycle of life.- Margaret A. Chang, Buxton School, Williamstown, MACopyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Kirkus Reviews
Each of Lisle's books has been fresh, creative, and unlike its predecessors. In Afternoon of the Elves (Newbery Honor, 1990), grim reality was mitigated by a courageous child's imagination; here, fantastical creatures help convey truths that transcend the harsh realities of a world whose rituals and prejudices are all too familiar. Eric and Gullstone, the pet gull the boy keeps on a tether, live with dour Aunt Opal; as is common in their village, Eric's parents were lost at sea in one of the treacherous whirlpools. His ambition is to spear a lampfish--a magnificent, luminous creature, treasured for its bones but dangerous to catch. Before he gets his chance, he encounters old Zeke Cantrip, survivor of the most dreaded ``spout''; Cantrip's mission is to save the fish, whose beauty speaks so eloquently to Eric that he is horrified next time he witnesses the lampfish hunt's customary brutality. Cantrip takes him down the spout to ``Underwhirl,'' a paradisiacal world to which the lampfish are guides. The perilous journey home is made with the help of Gullstone, now free from Eric's protective custody. Eric himself is changed forever: like Cantrip, he has gained wisdom but become an outsider. In lyrical prose with frequent dashes of humor, an intriguing, fully realized allegorical world with vivid characters, a colorful special vocabulary--and the beguiling fish, who also appear in many of Halperin's excellent drawings. A splendid, unique fantasy. (Fiction. 10+) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Card catalog description
An old fisherman leads Eric down a whirlpool to an ancient and beautiful world in the core of the Earth.

ANNOTATION

An old fisherman leads Eric down a whirlpool to an ancient and beautiful world in the core of the Earth.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Marked by the same surreal quality found in Lisle's Afternoon of the Elves , this enchanting tale is set in an imaginary coastal town repeatedly deluged by terrible storms. The hero, Eric, is a boy who seeks a lampfish--a rare, elusive creature whose bones provide fishhooks for residents of the village. During the course of the book, an ancient, half-crazed seaman named Cantrip teaches Eric to view both the lampfish and the world in a new light by leading the boy on an incredible journey to a land beneath the ocean where time and motion are nonexistent. As in the author's previous works, the theme that truth lies in the eye of the beholder is poetically conveyed throughout. Halperin's atmospheric, multi-paneled illustrations amplify the novel's eerie tone and match the eloquence of the text. Readers who fancy such classics as A Wrinkle in Time and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe will treasure this story as it tickles the imagination and challenges preconceived notions about reality and illusion. Ages 10-up. (Oct.)

School Library Journal