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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
seriously, how did i not read joan aiken when i was a kid? the northern lights must not have had them in the collection back then. this was super fun and i'm looking forward to reading some more.
This one is even better than I remember it being, mostly because Mr. Jenkins, the parrot, has me laughing out loud on the train. Also, the Moby Dick references run deeper than a whale. So good.
adventurous
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Dido Twite awakens on a Nantucket whaler, having slept for ten months after being rescued from a shipwreck in the arctic. Now, before she can make her way back to her beloved England, she must help Captain Casket's daughter Dutiful Penitence face her fear of everything other than Bible study and needlepoint. No easy task in the face of Pen's new guardian, the sinister Aunt Tribulation! But is Aunt Trib all she appears to be? This is a mystery, an adventure story, and a very, very funny book.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I didn't love this one. I like Dido but found the whole ship setting a bit boring. The parts on Nantucket were more interesting but still just felt a bit over the top. Of course part of the fun of these books is how over the top and silly some of the plot points are but this one just didn't work for me like the others in the series unfortunately.
I love these books! This writer is so fantastic! I don't know how she thinks up these original story ideas. I want to just keep reading these books forever!
An old fashioned kind of book --Dido is rescued from the sea and taken aboard Captain Casket's ship. She stumbles upon a Hanoverian plot, saves Nantucket and sees a pink whale. MS/HS
Book Review
Title: Nightbirds on Nantucket
Author: Joan Aiken
Genre: Children’s Fantasy
Rating: * * *
Review: After reading Nightbirds on Nantucket by Joan Aiken I have experience a profound feeling to regain the childhood I left behind me some years ago, it is an insane and enriching feeling that should enlighten any adult, child, male or female. The story begins when ten-year old Dido Twite, an English girl, awakens from a ten-month coma aboard an American whaling ship. When Dido recovers, Captain Casket asks her to befriend his skittish daughter, Dutiful Penitence, who refuses to leave her cabin because she is afraid of the sea. Dido teaches the serious Quaker girl to have fun and play games. Eventually, Dutiful, or Pen, as Dido calls her, musters her courage and leaves the cabin.
Captain Casket is on a mission to find a pink whale he rescued from a beach in his boyhood. He is so obsessed with finding “Rosie” the whale that he leaves Pen and Dido at his Nantucket home with Aunt Tribulation. Aunt Trib is like the stepmother in Cinderella – she forces the girls to do chores all day and to wait on her like servants. Dido teaches Pen to stand up against Trib, and the girl develops some backbone.
Nightbirds is an “off-shoot” of Aiken’s Wolves of Willoughby Chase series, but the story won’t confuse readers who are unfamiliar with the earlier books. Readers will like Dido because she is brave and heroic and a tad full of herself. It’s great fun to see her give Aunt Tribulation what-for. Aunt Tribulation (who isn’t who you think she is) is deliciously bad. Nate the cabin boy is Dido’s friend and ally. He owns a talking bird named Mr. Jenkins who offers plenty of laughs with his silly, aristocratic squawking. When Dido asks the bird where he’s been, he merely answers, “Your Grace’s wig needs a little more powder!”
From what I know about Aiken’s Wolves series, the books revolve around an alternate history, where King James II was never deposed. In her world, King James III rules, but he’s constantly harassed by The Hanoverian. This conspiring is critical to Nightbirds on Nantucket. Dido, Nate, and Pen thwart an assassination attempt on King James III in the story’s climax.
While the Wolves of Willoughby Chase books are set in England with English characters, Nightbirds has a distinctly American flavour. The plot thickens when the children discover a huge gun on Nantucket brought overseas by the evil Hanoverian. It is a 19th century intercontinental missile aimed at King James palace. The kick from this “cannon” would be so massive as to cause a tidal wave and knock Nantucket into New York harbour. It’s bad for England and bad for America. But overall children do not care about the political or social implication and accusations in this novel.
Title: Nightbirds on Nantucket
Author: Joan Aiken
Genre: Children’s Fantasy
Rating: * * *
Review: After reading Nightbirds on Nantucket by Joan Aiken I have experience a profound feeling to regain the childhood I left behind me some years ago, it is an insane and enriching feeling that should enlighten any adult, child, male or female. The story begins when ten-year old Dido Twite, an English girl, awakens from a ten-month coma aboard an American whaling ship. When Dido recovers, Captain Casket asks her to befriend his skittish daughter, Dutiful Penitence, who refuses to leave her cabin because she is afraid of the sea. Dido teaches the serious Quaker girl to have fun and play games. Eventually, Dutiful, or Pen, as Dido calls her, musters her courage and leaves the cabin.
Captain Casket is on a mission to find a pink whale he rescued from a beach in his boyhood. He is so obsessed with finding “Rosie” the whale that he leaves Pen and Dido at his Nantucket home with Aunt Tribulation. Aunt Trib is like the stepmother in Cinderella – she forces the girls to do chores all day and to wait on her like servants. Dido teaches Pen to stand up against Trib, and the girl develops some backbone.
Nightbirds is an “off-shoot” of Aiken’s Wolves of Willoughby Chase series, but the story won’t confuse readers who are unfamiliar with the earlier books. Readers will like Dido because she is brave and heroic and a tad full of herself. It’s great fun to see her give Aunt Tribulation what-for. Aunt Tribulation (who isn’t who you think she is) is deliciously bad. Nate the cabin boy is Dido’s friend and ally. He owns a talking bird named Mr. Jenkins who offers plenty of laughs with his silly, aristocratic squawking. When Dido asks the bird where he’s been, he merely answers, “Your Grace’s wig needs a little more powder!”
From what I know about Aiken’s Wolves series, the books revolve around an alternate history, where King James II was never deposed. In her world, King James III rules, but he’s constantly harassed by The Hanoverian. This conspiring is critical to Nightbirds on Nantucket. Dido, Nate, and Pen thwart an assassination attempt on King James III in the story’s climax.
While the Wolves of Willoughby Chase books are set in England with English characters, Nightbirds has a distinctly American flavour. The plot thickens when the children discover a huge gun on Nantucket brought overseas by the evil Hanoverian. It is a 19th century intercontinental missile aimed at King James palace. The kick from this “cannon” would be so massive as to cause a tidal wave and knock Nantucket into New York harbour. It’s bad for England and bad for America. But overall children do not care about the political or social implication and accusations in this novel.