THE LOST SAILOR

The captain's unequaled luck seems to be the result of his phenomenal powers of observation—he can even steer through fog "by instinct, by the feel of the air on the hairs of his arms and the breath of the ocean in his nose." Then, inexplicably, his luck fails, and his ship and crew are lost. Stranded on a tropical isle, he builds a house and settles in, vainly studying the chart that washed ashore with him. As an old man, beyond hope, he's rescued after the chart snaps shut, upsetting his lantern, which ignites his house to summon a passing ship. Conrad's adroit narrative has a powerful simplicity and the sure appeal of a shipwreck story, but depends a good deal on coincidence; it seems driven less by the logic of events than by their ulterior message: talent is not stronger than fate, while salvation may ironically depend on the unexpected. Egielski's island scenes are handsomely composed in his usual dependable manner, but he's not quite so handy with sea and sky—they're a bit too evanescent to he contained in his hard-edged style. Still, a book that offers more visual and literary pleasures than most. (Picture book. 4-10)