When the strange man who has been watching their house turns out to be the grandfather she has never seen, eleven-year-old Cessie couldn’t be happier — at first sight. But then he has a stroke and actually has to come live with them. Popsicle, as she calls him, is impossible to live with: moody, forgetful, clumsy. Only Cessie loves him and believes in him. So when he is sent off to a home for the elderly, she helps him escape. And plays first mate to him on a dramatic nighttime boat trip across the English channel to unravel a secret only the two of them know. This Morpurgo story makes the reader want to cheer — young people, the elderly, and courage at any age.
- ISBN: 9780399233111
- Author: Morpurgo, Michael
- Published: 1998, Philomel
- Themes: action and adventure, Family, grandfather and grandchild, memory, Runaways
- Descriptors: England (UK), Intermediate (ages 9-14), Realistic Fiction
- No. of pages: 178