''The Hydrofoil Mystery'' was written in 1999 by Canadian author

Eric Walters Eric Robert Walters, (born March 3, 1957) is a Canadian author of young adult fiction and picture books. As of 2020, Eric Walters has written over 100 books. Background Walters was an elementary school teacher at Vista Heights Public School in ...

. It is about a teenage boy named Billy McCracken, whose mother arranges for him to go away for the summer to work with none other than the well-known inventor of the

telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...

, Alexander Graham Bell. Billy expects his summer to be boring, but with the German

U-boats U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare rol ...

endangering the maritime coast, his work with Bell's hydrofoil becomes an adventure. The book is set during the first

World War A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

and although it is a work of fiction, it serves as a launching pad for discussions about Canada's involvement in the war and the contributions of Canada's leading scientist, Alexander Graham Bell. 1999 Canadian novels Children's historical novels Canadian young adult novels Novels by Eric Walters Novels set during World War I 1999 children's books

References

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