What does a missing toy airplane kit have to do with leaving everything you know behind?
For Karen Charles, the answer lies in understanding how children experience change. In Evan’s Stormy Voyage, an eight-year-old boy crosses the Atlantic with his family as they leave New York for a new life in Africa. The enormous journey is seen through the eyes of a child, making even the smallest problems feel important.
Charles explained that she wanted the smaller conflict, such as the mystery surrounding Evan’s missing airplane kit, to feel enormous because “to a child, they are.” Beneath that mystery is a much larger emotional journey. Evan is leaving his familiar world, crossing an ocean, and facing a completely different life in Africa. By connecting the everyday problem to that larger transition, Charles allows young readers to experience a major life change through something they can understand.
A Voyage That Is About More Than the Ocean
The setting gives the story an unusual sense of scale.
Evan is aboard a freighter crossing the Atlantic, surrounded by a world that is completely different from his ordinary childhood life. The ship becomes more than a backdrop. It carries him away from what he knows and toward an unfamiliar future.
During the voyage, Evan meets Mateo, a boy traveling to Ghana to live with his grandparents. Their friendship becomes central to the story as they explore the ship, share adventures, and eventually face a conflict that tests their relationship.
That combination of adventure and emotional change gives the missing airplane kit a deeper purpose. What initially appears to be a simple childhood mystery becomes part of a larger story about friendship, trust, forgiveness, and learning to deal with change.
Writing From What You Know
There is also a personal connection behind the Evan’s Adventures in Africa series.
On her website, Charles explains that the series draws from her childhood experiences growing up in Africa. She has described writing from what she knows and loves as an important foundation for her storytelling.
That personal connection helps explain why the journey feels larger than a simple adventure. The story brings together childhood memories, an unfamiliar environment, friendship, and the emotional experience of leaving one place for another.
Charles also created her own illustrations for Evan’s Stormy Voyage, a process that took six months according to her author interview.
Letting Young Readers Experience the Lesson
One of Charles's most interesting observations about writing for children is that she does not want to simply tell young readers what they should learn.
Instead, the lessons emerge through Evan's experiences.
The book explores courage, honesty, forgiveness, kindness, and saying goodbye, but these ideas are experienced through the characters and their journey rather than presented as a lecture.
That approach connects directly to the craft insight Charles shared with us: sometimes the best way to show a major emotional change is through a problem that feels small enough for the character to understand.
For Evan, a missing toy airplane is not simply a missing toy. It becomes part of a much larger moment in a journey that is changing his entire world.
About Karen Charles
Karen Charles is the author of Evan’s Stormy Voyage, the second book in the Evan’s Adventures in Africa series. Her website describes her broader writing as being influenced by real-life narratives, while her work on Evan's adventures draws from her childhood experiences in Africa.
You can explore Karen's books, writing, and author journey on her website:
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