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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Overall, this was a pretty easy book to read and understand. However, there were a few weird things from the perspective of an adult reader.
First, the fact that this was meant for children warps the content of the book, in a way. Everything was incredibly innocent, save for vague mentions of swearing and sexy photos belonging to the sailors. There was basically no blatant racism or sexism (aside from what a bad guy says), despite this book taking place on a ship filled with men in the 19th century. Depending on who you are, this might be a good thing or seen as weirdly unrealistic.
The protagonist was fitting for the book's target audience, being a thirteen year old girl. Charlotte Doyle is a naive girl from a wealthy family who has always been taught to respect authority and follow rules. Based on this, she was very stressful to read about for a lot of this book. You learn right away that bad things are brewing on the ship she's traveling on, and I was so concerned that she would end up exacerbating it. It makes sense that she would act this way though, based on her upbringing. Therefore, I can't fault the character of Charlotte for always acting in a way that fit her. It was nice to see her eventually grow as the novel went on.
Another weird thing was the pacing of the book. It says right on the back in big letters that Charlotte will be framed for murder, but that doesn't even happen until the last quarter of the book. I was thinking that would be a bigger thing throughout the whole novel. The book also started out very slowly. It took nearly half the book to get to the actually interesting stuff.
First, the fact that this was meant for children warps the content of the book, in a way. Everything was incredibly innocent, save for vague mentions of swearing and sexy photos belonging to the sailors. There was basically no blatant racism or sexism (aside from what a bad guy says), despite this book taking place on a ship filled with men in the 19th century. Depending on who you are, this might be a good thing or seen as weirdly unrealistic.
The protagonist was fitting for the book's target audience, being a thirteen year old girl. Charlotte Doyle is a naive girl from a wealthy family who has always been taught to respect authority and follow rules. Based on this, she was very stressful to read about for a lot of this book. You learn right away that bad things are brewing on the ship she's traveling on, and I was so concerned that she would end up exacerbating it. It makes sense that she would act this way though, based on her upbringing. Therefore, I can't fault the character of Charlotte for always acting in a way that fit her. It was nice to see her eventually grow as the novel went on.
Another weird thing was the pacing of the book. It says right on the back in big letters that Charlotte will be framed for murder, but that doesn't even happen until the last quarter of the book. I was thinking that would be a bigger thing throughout the whole novel. The book also started out very slowly. It took nearly half the book to get to the actually interesting stuff.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Torture
Minor: Racism
The heavy sexism only really comes into play in the last quarter of the book.
I read this in middle school and absolutely loved it. I’ve reread it at least 3 times, and it’s never gotten boring. Honestly, I don’t want to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of this book too harshly, because I did love it so much. It didn’t have much of a long term effect on me, if that makes sense, which is why I don’t feel the need to analyze the message it gives. I loved the character and her story, but I didn’t leave wanting to be a pretty white girl sailor. The characters were well written, it was well paced, and the story was interesting. I didn’t like that they threw in the issue of race so quickly at the end. I think it should have either been more realistically and correctly included, or not at all. Definitely not a very realistic story, but that’s not the point.
Great children's book, loved the ending! First time I've read an Avi book and I was extremely impressed. I would recommend this book for all young readers.
adventurous
medium-paced
adventurous
hopeful
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
2.5 stars
This book fooled me. It reeled me in and then let me down.
I really liked the intriguing opening scene of Charlotte having to travel by herself with a bunch of strange men and a captain of whom everyone who knew him seemed to be afraid. It also did a good job getting her somewhat snobby, upper-class attitude across, while also making her not unlikable, due to her naivete and meaning well despite her ignorance.
I thought it was cute the way Charlotte started hanging around the sailors despite herself, listening to their stories and struggling with the “impropriety” of her desire to get to know them. It was also - interesting - to watch her be manipulated by Captain Jaggery, so that when she saw him abusing the men she would not report it to her father. I was expecting a huge blow-up at the end where Charlotte realizes he's evil, and the sailors ganged up on him. I was also expecting camaraderie between Charlotte and her sailor friends/shipmates, to feel the mutual caring and fuzzies.
I did like that she was such a dynamic character. She was always focused on “doing the right thing” from beginning to end, but by the end of the book it had a very different meaning for her. Her mind expanded and she saw that the world wasn’t about all the superficial propriety that her family and society had imposed. Even her father
But the “friendship” that the back cover and midway point promised didn’t happen. It faltered, came up with a lame excuse for the shipmates not to come through when Charlotte was in trouble, and then when the smoke cleared everything went back to normal and they were all buddies again.
Charlotte gives the excuse that they must have thought Zachariah killed Hollybrass, and thus were willing to let Charlotte be hanged to protect Zachariah, because they had been friends with him longer. They were going to let their friend be killed to protect a murderer, and she just gets over it like it's nothing? Are you kidding me?
I think that they were simply cowards. They were afraid to stand up to Jaggery. Which is supported by their backing right down and whimpering like scared puppies when he killed their leader and made scary noises about how he was the captain and he’d have their heads and whatever. What an absolute letdown. Charlotte the sheltered little girl is the only one on the ship with any guts to defy Jaggery, and the men who have been socially trained to be tough and protect women are babies. If word got out that these “sailors,” these tough guys who braved storms, had watched while a teenage girl was about to be murdered, and they reached land, they’d probably get torn to pieces by a mob. Their inconsistency is especially irritating because they were all on their moral high horse about how she got people killed, when the reason for it was totally understandable.
And you know what else they did? When Charlotte tried to get the key to the muskets, but Jaggery was there because he knew about it beforehand, and then chased her around the ship shooting at her, they did nothing. They stood there waiting for her to take care of him. It’s lucky he fell off and drowned because otherwise Charlotte would have died and the rest would still be waiting for the “mutiny” that would never happen. I was expecting a grand showdown with a convoluted, nail-biting plot to get Jaggery. Not this limp nonsense that looks like it was made up because the author couldn’t figure out how to write his book after halfway through.
here wasn’t any camaraderie or fuzzies, besides the time they all cheered when she climbed to the royal yard and got back down and was inducted as a sailor. But that should have been the *beginning* of her friendship with all of them. Not the only evidence that it existed.
Good first act; second act was half-baked. This is the second Avi book I’ve read. Neither was as great as the hype, and I can’t understand why either won a Newbery.
This book fooled me. It reeled me in and then let me down.
I really liked the intriguing opening scene of Charlotte having to travel by herself with a bunch of strange men and a captain of whom everyone who knew him seemed to be afraid. It also did a good job getting her somewhat snobby, upper-class attitude across, while also making her not unlikable, due to her naivete and meaning well despite her ignorance.
I thought it was cute the way Charlotte started hanging around the sailors despite herself, listening to their stories and struggling with the “impropriety” of her desire to get to know them. It was also - interesting - to watch her be manipulated by Captain Jaggery, so that when she saw him abusing the men she would not report it to her father. I was expecting a huge blow-up at the end where Charlotte realizes he's evil, and the sailors ganged up on him. I was also expecting camaraderie between Charlotte and her sailor friends/shipmates, to feel the mutual caring and fuzzies.
I did like that she was such a dynamic character. She was always focused on “doing the right thing” from beginning to end, but by the end of the book it had a very different meaning for her. Her mind expanded and she saw that the world wasn’t about all the superficial propriety that her family and society had imposed. Even her father
Spoiler
wasn’t great like she remembered him, and was in fact not morally conscientious at all.But the “friendship” that the back cover and midway point promised didn’t happen. It faltered, came up with a lame excuse for the shipmates not to come through when Charlotte was in trouble, and then when the smoke cleared everything went back to normal and they were all buddies again.
Spoiler
The sailors are complete hypocrites. When Charlotte betrayed their mutiny plot they were only too happy to jump all over her, despite her repentance and apologies, despite the fact that she was a sheltered kid who was manipulated by the captain. Okay, so they said Zachariah had tried to convince her the captain was evil. Of course she didn’t believe him! The captain was an authority; she was raised to respect and obey authority no matter what, and her father's company owned the ship and employed Jaggery! Why would she believe Jaggery was a monster? They gleefully rubbed it in that two people had died partly because of her, but then when she was about to die, after she had proven her remorse and earned their friendship, they stood there watching!Charlotte gives the excuse that they must have thought Zachariah killed Hollybrass, and thus were willing to let Charlotte be hanged to protect Zachariah, because they had been friends with him longer. They were going to let their friend be killed to protect a murderer, and she just gets over it like it's nothing? Are you kidding me?
I think that they were simply cowards. They were afraid to stand up to Jaggery. Which is supported by their backing right down and whimpering like scared puppies when he killed their leader and made scary noises about how he was the captain and he’d have their heads and whatever. What an absolute letdown. Charlotte the sheltered little girl is the only one on the ship with any guts to defy Jaggery, and the men who have been socially trained to be tough and protect women are babies. If word got out that these “sailors,” these tough guys who braved storms, had watched while a teenage girl was about to be murdered, and they reached land, they’d probably get torn to pieces by a mob. Their inconsistency is especially irritating because they were all on their moral high horse about how she got people killed, when the reason for it was totally understandable.
And you know what else they did? When Charlotte tried to get the key to the muskets, but Jaggery was there because he knew about it beforehand, and then chased her around the ship shooting at her, they did nothing. They stood there waiting for her to take care of him. It’s lucky he fell off and drowned because otherwise Charlotte would have died and the rest would still be waiting for the “mutiny” that would never happen. I was expecting a grand showdown with a convoluted, nail-biting plot to get Jaggery. Not this limp nonsense that looks like it was made up because the author couldn’t figure out how to write his book after halfway through.
here wasn’t any camaraderie or fuzzies, besides the time they all cheered when she climbed to the royal yard and got back down and was inducted as a sailor. But that should have been the *beginning* of her friendship with all of them. Not the only evidence that it existed.
Good first act; second act was half-baked. This is the second Avi book I’ve read. Neither was as great as the hype, and I can’t understand why either won a Newbery.
I have read this book so many times. Once I start it, I absolutely can't put it down. I started out borrowing it from my library all the time, until finally I found my own copy. It's my favorite book by Avi, who is truly a very gifted storyteller.
The book focuses on 13-year-old Charlotte Doyle, making the passage (alone) from England to Providence, Rhode Island, to be reunited with her family. They've taken care of all the arrangements, booking her passage aboard the Seahawk. But from the moment she first steps on board, Charlotte senses that there is danger on the ship. There are secrets, betrayals, murders, and mutinies--all giving this thrilling high seas mystery a spot on the shelf! The characters are very vivid--from Charlotte's quiet friend, Zachariah, to the commanding and cruel Captain Jaggery. Avi spins his magic.
The book focuses on 13-year-old Charlotte Doyle, making the passage (alone) from England to Providence, Rhode Island, to be reunited with her family. They've taken care of all the arrangements, booking her passage aboard the Seahawk. But from the moment she first steps on board, Charlotte senses that there is danger on the ship. There are secrets, betrayals, murders, and mutinies--all giving this thrilling high seas mystery a spot on the shelf! The characters are very vivid--from Charlotte's quiet friend, Zachariah, to the commanding and cruel Captain Jaggery. Avi spins his magic.
I had read this book as a teenager but did not remember enough of it to give it an honest rating. This time I listened to it on CD. I enjoyed it and thought it was well written for a young adult book, unlike some I've read recently that were just horrible.
Charlotte Doyle is sent back from her ladies school on a ship back to her home in Providence, Rhode Island. After several warnings not to go on the ship she embarks anyway. As the journey begins she realizes she is on a voyage far more adventurous and dangerous than she could have ever imagined. She is soon in a twist of deceit & mystery and soon she doesn't know who she should trust. As the months go by and as the ship crosses the Atlantic, events occur which make her transform into one of the sailors manning the ship, no longer a passenger. This journey will alter her life forever.
Charlotte Doyle is sent back from her ladies school on a ship back to her home in Providence, Rhode Island. After several warnings not to go on the ship she embarks anyway. As the journey begins she realizes she is on a voyage far more adventurous and dangerous than she could have ever imagined. She is soon in a twist of deceit & mystery and soon she doesn't know who she should trust. As the months go by and as the ship crosses the Atlantic, events occur which make her transform into one of the sailors manning the ship, no longer a passenger. This journey will alter her life forever.