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Down to the Sea Again: True Sea Stories for Young New Zealanders, Tessa Duder (Editor)
HarperCollins
Reviewed by Lindsay Wright (Courtesy of Taranaki Daily News)

The sea is all around us, literally and figuratively. To go anywhere from New Zealand you have to cross at least 1200 nautical miles (2222km) of ocean (or sea if you're heading westwards).

Auckland author Tessa Duder has acknowledged our relationship with the sea by compiling this anthology of stories written by, or for, young New Zealanders.

Most people who go down to the sea on a regular basis are male but, of the 40 stories in the book, only eight are written by males, so I found the book a bit flowery in places where it shouldn't have been.

From the pocket biographies supplied with each story, it seems the authors are more committed to literature than the sea, but this needn't be a detraction, and many of the stories are well crafted and make compulsive reading. One of the male contributors is perennial New Plymouth youth wordsmith David Hill, with a nice little number about answering a message in a bottle. Down to the Sea Again should keep many young Kiwis engrossed.