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Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
On the Maine coast, a boy cannot talk his way into respect. He has to earn it.
Jim Spurling, Fisherman by Albert Walter Tolman places a young hero among the fishing people of Maine. Rocky shores, cold water and small harbors shape this coming-of-age adventure. Here, growing up means more than wanting independence: it means learning a hard trade and proving yourself through work and danger.
Jim’s world puts courage beside patience, skill and the willingness to keep working. The sea offers a stern setting for a story about earning trust. Making good carries a cost: ease gives way to effort, and ambition meets risk, disappointment and the demands of a close coastal community.
What you’ll discover
- A rugged coastal world Step among Maine’s rocky shores and fishing communities, where the sea shapes daily life.
- Respect earned through work Explore a world where doing a job well matters more than talking about it.
- Courage beyond bold words Consider what bravery means when a young person must face danger and accept responsibility.
- The cost of ambition Follow the idea that making good demands effort, sacrifice and a willingness to risk disappointment.
- An old-fashioned adventure Find plain action and clear moral lessons in a story rooted in New England life.
Who will love it
This book is for readers who love sea stories, boats and weather, and tales of boys proving themselves. It suits anyone who enjoys a fast plot and a hero who changes bit by bit.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A summer becomes a last chance
- Jim refuses to sell his standards
- Kindness makes room for another crewmate
- Honest work includes refusing easy money
- Taking without giving divides the crew
- Percy faces himself on the water
- Ordinary hours begin to shape Percy
- Friendship joins firmness with generosity
Who’s who
- Jim SpurlingA steady, honest Maine boy of nineteen who earns his own way and leads the island crew by example.
- Percy WhittingtonA spoiled millionaire's son who must prove in one summer that he has something worth his father's trust.
- Roger LaneA red-haired New Hampshire farm boy, quick with jokes and figures, who keeps the company's accounts.
- Winthrop StevensCalled Throppy, a quiet student of machines and electricity who builds a wireless set on the island.
- Filippo CanamelliA young Sicilian, homesick and far from his brother, who becomes the camp cook and a loyal friend.
- John P. WhittingtonA self-made millionaire with a bulldog jaw who has run out of ways to reach his only son.
- Uncle Tom SprowlJim's uncle, a Stonington fisherman laid up with rheumatism, who lends the island and the gear.
- Captain Bart BrittlerThe master of a dark schooner who lands on the island with Dolph and plans to steal sheep.
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Jim Spurling, Fisherman in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Jim Spurling, Fisherman
by Albert Walter Tolman · 1918
A millionaire's son trades his sports car for a fishing sloop and a bare pine bunk on a Maine island.
Medium level2–5 hours to read20 languages
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In short
Percy Whittington wrecks two cars in a single afternoon, and his father answers with a bargain. Spend a summer working on a Maine island, or lose every dollar.
Jim Spurling, Fisherman at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h 45 min3 h 45 min fast, 5 h 35 min slow
- Length
- 67,400 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1918by Albert Walter Tolman
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A wrecked car on the academy road
It is commencement week at Graffam Academy, an old country school among New England hills. Three seniors sit on a fence talking about their summer. They are Jim Spurling, Roger Lane, and Winthrop Stevens, called Throppy. Then a gray automobile skids up, driven by Percy Whittington, a pale, jittery boy with a very rich father.
Percy boasts that he is leaving school for good, loaded down with failed subjects. He says he will break a speed record before his father arrives on the evening train. Minutes later he slams into the hotel bus, which carries his own father, John P. Whittington, a short, square man with a jaw like a battleship.
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Which edition is right for me
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Details
- First published
- 1918
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 5 h 15 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Tolman, Albert Walter. Jim Spurling, Fisherman. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/jim-spurling-fisherman.
Tolman, A. W. (2026). Jim Spurling, fisherman. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/jim-spurling-fisherman (Original work published 1918)
Tolman, Albert Walter. Jim Spurling, Fisherman. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/jim-spurling-fisherman.
@book{tolman2026jim,
author = {Tolman, Albert Walter},
title = {Jim Spurling, Fisherman},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/jim-spurling-fisherman},
note = {First published 1918}
}
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What is Jim Spurling, Fisherman about?
It follows a summer on Tarpaulin Island off Maine, where Jim Spurling, two academy friends, and Percy Whittington fish and lobster together. They take along a rich, careless boy named Percy Whittington, whose father wants him to learn what work means.
Who is Percy Whittington?
Percy is the seventeen-year-old son of millionaire John P. Whittington. He fails school, wrecks cars, and smokes cigarettes. His summer on the island is a last chance to prove he can work, earn respect, and change.
Where is Tarpaulin Island?
Tarpaulin is described as an island about twenty-five miles off the Maine coast, south of Isle au Haut. It has fifty acres of pasture, a rocky shore, a cove with a camp, and good waters for fish and lobsters.
The author
Albert Walter Tolman
American writer
Albert Walter Tolman was an American writer who lived from 1866 to 1956. He wrote fiction for young readers. His books included Jim Spurling, Fisherman, published in 1918. He lived in the United States and wrote during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
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