Ripe with the concerns of a boy about to become a man, this novel explores the many paths to adulthood through its various characters and their relationships to the sometimes ravaging forces of nature. Culver, the narrator, is growing into adulthood as his mother leaves his stepfather and they both return to the town in which Culver's father, her fist husband, drowned. Culver's Uncle Jake, a fishing guide, town leader, and witness to the drowning, becomes Culver's surrogate father. The Sky Fishermanreveals the intricate demography of a family trying to heal itself and survive. This reader's guide is designed as a navigation tool as you chart your way through this novel, which Carolyn See called, "an exquisitely delineated map of America."