Cindy Vallar's Blog, page 35

Two Times a Traitor by Karen Bass

Two Times a Traitor by Karen Bass

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Being uprooted from your home and moving to a new country can ruin your life. At least that’s how twelve-year-old Lazare Berenger sees it and he blames his dad for doing so without any discussion. They’ve been arguing now for seven months, but Laz wildly lashes out while vacationing in Halifax, Canada. Out of control he runs off to explore the Citadel alone and let his anger ebb. Deep inside a tunnel under the fort that an ancestor once guarded during the American Revolution, he trips, falls, and blacks out.

When Laz awakens and emerges from the tunnel, Halifax has disappeared. Instead of a fort, there are only silhouettes of old sailing ships and an English sentry pointing a long-barreled rifle at him. Laz assumes this is an elaborately staged trick of his father’s to make him cease rebelling and behave. During his confrontation with British Captain Elijah Hawkins, however, he painfully discovers this is not a charade. The year is 1745 and Captain Hawkins believes him to be a French spy, not only because of how Laz pronounces his name and his ability to speak both French and English, but also because he wears a St. Christopher’s medal – a decoration only a Catholic would wear and the English are not Papists.

Laz believes his medal holds the key to getting back home, but Hawkins confiscates it. If Laz’s purpose is to learn more about the upcoming invasion of Louisbourg and take that information back to the French, he will hang as a spy. But there is one way to earn Hawkins’ trust and regain his medal – sneak into the fortified city of Louisbourg, cause mischief, and return to the ship. On the journey closer to where he will disembark, he makes both friends and enemies, one of whom will do his utmost to kill Laz simply because he’s French.

Sneaking ashore where the French will easily find him, getting to Louisbourg, and convincing the French that the English plan to attack turns out to be more difficult than Laz imagines. Only one officer takes him seriously. Port Commander Pierre Morpain not only listens and asks questions, he provides Laz with food, a place to shelter, and new clothes. Laz becomes his confidential messenger – a job that teaches him how to get around and introduces him to many citizens and soldiers. Before long, he can come and go as he pleases without arousing anyone’s curiosity. But the longer he’s among the French, the more he feels like he’s found a new home among friends the harder it becomes to betray them and Morpain, who treats him like a son.

Two Times a Traitor is a riveting time-slip adventure. From first page to last you are caught in the vortex that whisks him from the present back to the past. When the sword slices his hand or musket balls whiz by, you feel and hear both. His emotions become yours as he wends his way through dangerous actions and foreign places where he doesn’t know the rules, yet his life depends on knowing them. Bass vividly recreates past places and times and her characters, both good and bad, compel you to discover how Laz resolves the conflicts he faces as he matures from an immature youth to a teenager wise beyond his years. Beware: Putting the book down is near impossible. Nor is this book just for older children and young adults; adults will equally be enthralled with this historical novel that explores a period in Canadian history of which few Americans are aware. Once you begin to read, you soon discover why this highly recommended book was chosen as a 2017 Junior Library Guild selection and one of the Best Books for Kids & Teens for 2017.




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To the Walls of Derne by Chipp Reid

To the Walls of Derne: William Eaton, the Tripoli Coup, and the End of the First Barbary War by Chipp Reid

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


To the Walls of Derne begins where Intrepid Sailors (2012) ends in the U. S. Navy’s war with Tripoli. The conflict came about because of this Barbary State’s pirates’ frequent incursions on American merchantmen and the bashaw’s demand for payment of tribute, which President Thomas Jefferson and others likened to extortion, to stop such raids. When this book opens, the USS Philadelphia has already been captured and destroyed and her crew imprisoned and forced to endure slave labor, poor rations, and abusive treatment at the hands of the Tripolitans.

Into this tense situation steps an American soldier, diplomat, and would-be adventurer named William Eaton. Popular, arrogant, intelligent, direct, and overly courageous, he has long dreamed of being a hero. His audacious plan to replace the current bashaw with his older brother, with the assistance of the United States, offers him that opportunity if he can convince the president to sanction and fund the expedition. For this plan to succeed, Eaton must first find Hamet Karamanli and then convince him to take up arms against his brother.

Hamet Karamanli is the middle son of Tripoli’s ruling family. Although intelligent, conversant in many languages, and a combatant fighter, he never wanted or expected to rule his country. His primary desire is to take care of his wife and children, while living a life of ease. But his younger brother holds Hamet’s family hostage while Hamet lives in exile somewhere in Egypt.

Astute and ruthless, Yusuf Karamanli is a very ambitious man. As a child, he yearns to rule Tripoli, but is the third and youngest son. To accomplish this goal, he kills his oldest brother and usurps the throne from Hamet. Bashaw Yusuf’s dream is to make Tripoli the equal of any European or Near Eastern country and to fund this desire, his pirates capture ships of other nations to gain slave labor and force a peace that includes hefty payments to insure the safety of seamen and free trade in the Mediterranean. Yet the Americans prove to be irritating thorns. They destroyed their captured frigate. They blockade his harbor, which prevents much-needed grain shipments from arriving. The loss of tribute and the lack of food mean his people are starving and questioning whether he should be ruler. Then there are the whispers from spies who tell him that Hamet may lead an army to unseat Yusuf.

But these three men are not the only players on the stage in this daring scheme. President Jefferson wavers on what is the best option for securing peace. He ultimately decides a three-pronged strategy will be the most effective in curtailing this costly and seemingly endless war. He authorizes Eaton’s plan, but fails to provide Eaton with full control over the expedition. That privilege goes to an ailing Commodore Samuel Barron, who assumes command of the U. S. Navy squadron currently blockading Tripoli. Jefferson’s third maneuver is to send Tobias Lear, who opposes Eaton’s plan, to the Mediterranean with the authority to negotiate peace.

Thus, in April 1805, the stage is set for what becomes a dangerous and bold, 500-mile trek across the desert with a polyglot army. Seven marines and a self-styled general in hostile lands, at times pitted against their own followers, achieve the impossible only to have petty jealousies, diplomatic machinations, and service rivalries prevent them from achieving the ultimate goal. This story – immortalized in a line in the U. S. Marine Corps’ “Marines’ Hymn” – unfolds within the pages of To the Walls of Derne. The book includes maps, notes, a bibliography, and an index, as well as an epilogue in which Reid shares what happened to the principal participants once the expedition ends.

This may not be the most riveting account I’ve read of this episode in American history, but what makes this book an important contribution to studies of our relations with the Barbary States and Barbary piracy, as well as the formative years of our fledging nation, is that Reid doesn’t color his recounting with modern-day concepts of terrorism and radical Islam. He delved beyond the usual sources to examine material about the Karamanlis that are rarely consulted by Western historians. While this four-year conflict failed to solve the problem of paying tribute – that would come later – he also demonstrates how the seven marines who bravely fought in this war prevented the American government from doing away with the U. S. Marine Corps. To the Walls of Derne skillfully shows the price our freedom costs and the depth to which our armed forces are willing to go to defend our country.




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The Palatine Wreck by Jill Farinelli

The Palatine Wreck: The Legend of the New England Ghost Ship by Jill Farinelli

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


History knows her as the Palatine, initially a sailing ship, then a wreck, and later a fiery ghost. Her name and those of most passengers have been lost until now. For the first time, we finally learn a bit about fifteen emigrants who set sail in April 1738 aboard the Princess Augusta. The total number who left Rotterdam in the Netherlands is uncertain, this cargo ship carried around 300 men, women, and children. At least 240 of these died during the crossing of the Atlantic. Of her crew of sixteen, half succumbed, including one of the principal owners, Captain George Long, who, at twenty, was making his first Palatine run.

The Princess Augusta was bound for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the journey to their new homes should have taken three months for the German. Instead, those who survived reached the mouth of the Delaware River in December, only to discover the waterway was frozen shut. Unable to wait any longer to reach land, the ship headed north to Rhode Island, where she grounded and sank off Block Island. A year later, the first sighting of a full-rigged ship on fire occurred, but when rescuers reached the site, nothing was there except water – no survivors, no dead bodies, no wreckage. From time to time in the intervening years the ghost ship has reappeared.

The majority of emigrants came from the Palantinate, a region in Germany that bordered both sides of the Rhine River. One town in this area was Schwaigern, where the residents’ lives were controlled by the market, the palace, and the church. Inheritance laws, financial burdens, and the possibility of another war convinced many in the region to immigrate to the New World and many went to William Penn’s colony because he offered cheap acreage without heavy taxation or government interference. One man who decided to leave Schwaigern was Sebastian Dieter, who took with him his wife and three children. The first section of the book, “The Old World,” recounts what it took to leave their homeland and the trials they endured during the journey to the Netherlands and the wait to board a ship bound for America.

“The Voyage” recounts the crossing of the Atlantic. Farinelli skillfully weaves a horrific tale where greed, overcrowding, illness, poor provisions, delays, and storms impacted everyone aboard. Where details specifically about the Princess Augusta are available, she includes them. She fills in missing information with details of what other Palatine ships experienced. At the same time, she shares the questions that remain unanswered about this particular cruise – many of which are mysteries that will never be solved.

The third portion of the book, “The New Land,” focuses on what emigrants experienced once the ship arrived on the east coast of America, as well as what happened to the survivors of the Princess Augusta after she sank. “The Legend,” the fourth part, discusses some of the best-known sightings, John Greenleaf Whittier’s poem “The Palatine,” the stories of two female survivors who opted to remain on Block Island, and how the publicity of the ghost ship forever changed the island and the islanders’ way of life. The endnotes contain fascinating historical tidbits beyond identifying the source. The bibliography includes famous poems and stories inspired by the Palatine Legend, as well as primary and secondary source materials. There is also an index.

The Palatine Wreck is an invaluable addition to any collection dealing with maritime history and the immigrant experience. Part of the Seafaring America series, it delves deeper into the true story of the fateful journey, while clearly separating fact from fiction. For example, one persistent legend is that wreckers lured the Princess Augusta to her death and murdered the passengers, yet Farinelli’s research clearly shows this is not what happened. Her spellbinding account reads like a novel, but is totally non-fiction. The manner in which she recounts what occurred concisely demonstrates that the horror of the shipwreck was merely the final episode in a series of tragic events – some manmade, some no one could control. She immerses readers in the time period, ship life, and the emigrant experience, making this engrossing presentation difficult to put down.




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Vikings at War by Kim Hjardar and Vegard Vike

Vikings at War by Kim Hjardar

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Fighting and war were intricately woven in the tapestry of Viking life. It was brutal and raw, just like life itself, and Vikings were particularly good at mastering the components that constituted this lifestyle. Rather than examine the entire sphere of the Viking world from AD 750 to 1100, the authors focus on one facet of this society – the warriors, whose activities impacted the lives of many from America in the west, to the Caspian Sea in the east, from the Russian forests of the north, to Jerusalem to the south. Their intrusive raids ultimately led to upheavals that altered the course of European history.

Hjardar and Vike present this comprehensive examination in six chapters, each focusing on a particular aspect of a warrior’s life. It begins with the inside covers, which are full-color maps depicting the Viking world during a period of 350 years. Many histories of this era open with an account of the raid on the Lindisfarne Priory on Holy Island or Iona Abbey in the Hebrides; these authors chose an even earlier incursion when King Beorhtric of Wessex sent his bailiff to confront the intruders into his realm in the summer of AD 789. This first record of a violent encounter at the hands of the Vikings did not end well for the bailiff.

Whether they were called Norsemen, Danes, heathens, Rus, Varangians, al-madjus, Finn Gall, or Dub Gall, they had two things in common. They came from North, the region we know as Scandinavia, and they were Vikings. Chapter one answers five basic questions: who they were; what “Viking” meant (both then and later); why the raids began; what technological advancements allowed them to venture far from land; and how Vikings, rather than Christians, saw the world. This section also examines Viking society and the role of the warrior in it, as well as their religion.

No book on warriors and military life would be complete without a discussion on “The Art of War,” which is the topic discussed in chapter two. This umbrella covers many facets: troops, homeland defense, trial by combat, training, raiding, battle formations, intelligence and logistics, strategy and stratagems, mercenaries, beserkers and wolfskins, warrior women, and tending the sick and wounded.

Chapter three looks at fortifications, both temporary and permanent, while chapter four focuses on Viking ships. The latter includes a double-page timeline that shows how the cargoes, barges, and longships developed. There is also an annotated list of archeological finds of these vessels.

Chapter five, the only one written by Vegard Vike, focuses on Viking weaponry. All freemen were expected to have and use three types of weapons to defend the land. Weapons were status symbols, in both life and death. The principal arms were the spear, shield, sword or axe, but also discussed are knives, bows and arrows, and personal armor. The arms trade is another topic Vike covers.

The final chapter, the longest of the six, centers on Viking invasions. Here Hjardar divides up the world into eight parts: Islands in the West, Ireland, England, the Frankish Empire and France, the Iberian peninsula, lands in the East, Byzantium, and Greenland and America. Each part includes a full-page color image of the Viking who invaded that region. This allows readers to see the similarities and differences, for example, between a Viking who went to Ireland and one who traveled as far as America. In addition to explaining how the invaders reached these destinations, Hjardar provides overviews of the raids and battles that occurred there and how that area’s Viking history unfolded. Readers are also introduced to specific Vikings whose names – such as the Earls of Orkney, Sigtrygg Silkbeard, Eirik Bloodaxe, Olav Tryggvason, Svjatoslav, and the Varangian Guard – and experiences are recounted in the historical record.

A host of color photographs, diagrams, maps and battle movements, and artwork beautifully illustrate this 400-page coffee-table-sized book. Several double-page spreads of original artwork allow readers to visualize such things as a ship burial, the raid on Lindisfarne, and the Vikings’ winter camp in Repton, England. Throughout the text, the authors include excerpts from original sources to enrich and enhance the topic being discussed. Special boxed highlights, incorporated into every chapter, showcase such subjects as early warrior culture, a woman’s honor, loyalty oaths, traveling to the afterlife, and persons of particular renown. Aside from the end notes, there are a bibliography and an index with four separate divisions – people, places, subjects, and major battles. A list of maps is also included.

The only section with outdated information appears in chapter two and concerns warrior women. This isn’t the author’s fault, as results of DNA studies on a Viking warrior found in 1888 have only recently been shared publicly. Viking warrior women did exist outside of folklore; to the author’s credit, he did leave open the possibility that some women, and even men, stepped outside their sex’s normal societal constraints to follow a different path.

The authors’ purpose in writing this book was to provide readers with vivid look into the Viking Age, and this they consummately achieve. Even though the writing isn’t always riveting, nuanced insights and delightful historical tidbits make this volume not only a worthy addition to any collection specializing in Scandinavian history, but also a stellar resource for history buffs and authors seeking background for their novels.




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Race to the Bottom of the Sea by Lindsay Eagar

Race to the Bottom of the Sea by Lindsay Eagar

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Saying goodbye to the sharks on the last day of summer is a ritual for Fidelia Quail. She has studied her favorite fish for eleven years – her whole life. But this year, the sharks just aren’t cooperating. Not a single one is anywhere to be found, even though Fidelia entices them with their favorite chum. While she hopes and waits, her parents are down below in the submersible Fidelia invented. They are famous oceanographers who study the fish and flora of the nine seas. Fidelia is on the research boat, tagging fish and watching the Undertow – the deadly winter storms – approach.

Still, there’s time to make it back to the safety of Arborley Harbor. Her parents agree to ten more minutes, which turns out to be good because that’s when the biggest shark Fidelia has ever seen appears. Not only is his size a surprise, but it’s a totally new species! She names him “Grizzle” because of the scar on his dorsal fin, and if she can tag him, she will become famous. Aside from getting to decide on Grizzle’s scientific name, she might even win an award to go beside those of her parents.

The sea becomes rougher and time has run out. She misses tagging Grizzle and radios her parents that she’s heading for home and will meet them there. But they never arrive. When the submersible finally washes ashore, it’s smashed to bits. The loss of her beloved parents hits Fidelia hard and she blames herself for their deaths. Aunt Julia, the supreme librarian at Arborley Library (Fidelia’s new home), is understanding and caring. But she’s not Fidelia’s mother or father. As the days pass, Fidelia helps out at the library, but she never ventures outside, never visits her seafaring friends, never even opens her journal or cares about sharks.

One day, Aunt Julia tells her they must go to Fidelia’s house to pack up everything. The house is to be sold and all the contents belong to the university that funded the Quails’ research. Aunt Julia also suggests that perhaps she and Fidelia should move to the mainland – a suggestion that means moving away from the only home Fidelia has ever known. Too upset to think, she runs from the library, eventually making her way to where she lived with her parents.

And encounters pirates. Not just any sea-robbers, but the most notorious pirate, who is “wanted in thirty nations for robbery, burglary, arson, murder, jail breaking, and piracy” – Merrick the Monstrous, Terror of the nine seas – and his mates, Cheapshot Charlie and Bloody Elle. (85) They’ve come for Dr. and Dr. Quail, but since they’re not available, Fidelia will do. They’re kidnapping her, but if she helps willingly, Merrick promises to return her to Arborley within a week. If she refuses, he’s not known for being nice. Fidelia sees no alternative but to go with her kidnappers, so she collects the equipment she will need and the pirates take her to the Jewel, a pirate ship that has seen better days. Hopefully, the vessel will get them to where she’s supposed to help Merrick recover his treasure.

There are just three, no four, minor problems . . . well, perhaps not so little really. Merrick has violent coughing spells and is getting sicker each day. Fidelia has never quite gotten out the bugs in the Water-Eater – her invention that should allow her to breathe underwater, but does not. Then there’s another group of pirates, whose leader holds Merrick responsible for the loss of one of his mates. And the fourth complication? Admiral Bridgewater of Her Majesty’s Navy. This pirate hunter is particularly determined on capturing and hanging Merrick the Monstrous. He’s come close several times in the past, but each time Merrick has foiled his plans or managed to escape from prison. NOT THIS TIME! He will recover Merrick’s treasure and see him dead once and for all, no matter what!

Written for eight to twelve year olds, Race to the Bottom of the Sea is a wonderful scientific pirate adventure that readers of all ages will enjoy. Interspersed throughout the present-day story are brief interludes that show readers how the lives of Merrick the Monstrous and the other pirates intersect with Admiral Bridgewater and Fidelia’s family. They end with quotations from one of Dr. and Dr. Quail’s many books, Exploring an Underwater Fairyland, which are tied into what is recounted. Fidelia is an intelligent, bubbly girl who must come to terms with devastating loss and upheavals in her life. As she learns to cope, she also discovers that sometimes even nasty pirates have good qualities and that she’s not the only one who’s been hurt and has regrets. Race to the Bottom of the Sea is both entertaining and educational. It’s a great story to read aloud, perhaps with other pirate fans (like parents or librarians and teachers; maybe even the principal), or just by yourself. Even boys will like this Junior Library Guild selection, even though Fidelia is a girl.




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The Money Ship by Joan Druett

The Money Ship by Joan Druett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Inquisitive and headstrong, six-year-old Jerusha Gardiner loves being with her father aboard his whaling ship. She basically does what she wants since her parents assume someone else is watching her. (She often does the same ashore. Although she tries to please her mother, she usually fails. And it’s no different on the Huntress.) As the three-year voyage passes, her inquisitive nature compels her to learn whatever she can, including studying discarded medical books and asking the first mate to teach her navigation.

Going to sea is more his mother’s idea, rather than Nelson O’Cain’s. But it does provide him with one advantage; he’s far from his vindictive half-brother, the duke’s legitimate son. During the voyage, his meteoric rise from apprentice to first mate leaves Nelson feeling ill-equipped to handle any problems that arise or Captain Gardiner’s precocious daughter. Yet when he finds her aloft, away from her mother’s rants, he keeps her secret and when his brother comes aboard with spiteful news, she is the only one to offer solace.

After a strange sail is sighted, Jerusha is sent to visit the captain in hopes of acquiring some fresh supplies. She expects to find someone like her father, but Captain Rochester of the Hakluyt is quite different and his cabin is like a magical place. He is a collector of treasure stories, so Jerusha shares the only one she knows – the day her father, as a young boy, found gold aboard a wrecked money ship – long before he became a sailor and was pressed into the Royal Navy. Rochester shares a tale of his search for the lost or buried treasure of a pirate, which he believes is somewhere in the South China Sea.

As time passes, the Gardiners and Rochester frequently cross paths as they visit ports in these exotic waters. One day, he shares his latest find to prove his hypothesis, which is reinforced when Jerusha catches a fish that turns out to have a plate of gold within its belly. But no one is getting younger and Rochester’s sudden death leaves Jerusha and her father, as her guardian, owners of the Hakluyt. Nelson also leaves to sign aboard an East Indiaman, but during a visit, he intervenes when his brother attempts to blackmail Captain Gardiner and physically threatens Jerusha. Then his brother is murdered, Nelson is arrested, and Jerusha is sent to the United States to live with an aunt she’s never met while her father remains in Borneo intent on continuing Rochester’s treasure hunt and conducting a profitable trading venture that raises the ire of the British East India Company.

The Money Ship isn’t a typical nautical tale. Rather it is a coming-of-age story in both familiar places and exotic locales. Divided into four separate parts, it follows the lives of Jerusha from childhood into womanhood and Nelson, who is just entering adulthood when he signs aboard the whaler. While no specific dates are given, it begins after the Napoleonic Wars have ended and transports readers from England to Singapore, Borneo, and Massachusetts. Druett wonderfully populates her story with a plethora of characters that include pirates, Sea Dyaks, missionaries, Illanoans, and many others both reputable and despicable. She intricately weaves a tapestry of unusual cultures and complicated politics with infidelity, secrets, arranged marriage, and betrayal. From first page to last, The Money Ship transports readers back to the early nineteenth century on an epic journey spiced with high adventure and contemptible lows. Be forewarned: the tempests blow not only at sea, but also on land and one is never quite certain who will survive.




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When the Mermaid Sings by Helen Hollick

When the Mermaid Sings by Helen Hollick

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


For years, Jesamiah Mereno has endured his older half-brother’s bullying. But the day they bury his father in 1708, the harassment goes too far and Jesamiah fights back. Banished from his home, he signs aboard a merchant ship bound for Port Royal where he hopes to meet up with a friend of his father, Captain Malachias Taylor. On the way, the vessel is overtaken by a Spanish warship. In spite of his young age, Jesamiah devises a wily plan and the merchant captain takes a risk on the fifteen year old.

Meeting Malachias and joining the privateer proves easier than Jesamiah expects, but he soon earns himself an enemy among the crew. He’s also tempted by a beautiful mermaid, who mistakes him for his father, and a girl’s voice he hears in his head. She’s come to him in the past, but has never revealed her name until now and more than once Tiola intervenes in dire situations. So does his father’s ghost, which leaves Jesamiah wondering who’s real and who’s not.

After a successful voyage, they put into port and Malachias disappears. A week later a note arrives with orders for Jesamiah to appear at a gentleman’s club. When he gets there, he must play the final round of a high-stakes card game. Contrary to Malachias’s hope, Jesamiah loses and, once again, Jesamiah comes up with an audacious plan to regain what is lost. This time it means they can never return to Port Royal.

This novella is a prequel to Hollick’s Sea Witch Voyages and takes place over the span of two years. Readers learn why Jesamiah changes his surname to Acorne, as well as how he becomes a pirate. Along the way, he meets Henry Jennings, whom he crosses paths with time and again in the future, and Charles Vane, who becomes a deadly enemy. An accusation of murder and a sea battle that nearly costs Jesamiah his life are but two of the mishaps he endures in this fast-paced enchanted tale set before his days as captain of the Sea Witch.




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Sinking the Sultana by Sally M. Walker

Sinking the Sultana: A Civil War Story of Imprisonment, Greed, and a Doomed Journey Home by Sally M. Walker

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


On 27 April 1865, Frances Ackley joins her husband on deck of the USS Tyler in the wee hours of the morning. The Mississippi River, where the gunboat is docked, runs higher than normal because of the winter thaw. At 2:30 in the morning, the sky should be dark, but glows orange. All around them, voices plead for help. Two navy cutters quickly launch and, despite her husband’s objections, Frances climbs aboard one. For the next hours, she helps rescue man after man. For each man saved, dozens more float past, too far to reach with the boat hook. Sinking the Sultana recounts the nightmare of that night, as well as the days and months before, and the terrible tragedy that killed so many who had endured so much, but were finally going home.

Walker begins this story by first laying the groundwork so readers understand the river, the evolution of travel on the Mississippi, and time period. Then she introduces some of the men who joined the Union Army, were captured by Confederate forces, and ultimately found themselves aboard the Sultana. Michael Dougherty was a recent emigrant from Ireland. Robert Hamilton came from Tennessee, but fought for the North because he opposed secession. Too young to fight, Stephen Gaston became a bugler. A lawyer in civilian life, J. Walter Elliott had to lie about his identity to stay alive. John Clark Ely, a teacher, kept a record his life in the army and in prison.

The next four chapters examine what life was like inside the notorious prisoner of war camp known as Andersonville, as well as the less familiar, but equally horrendous, Cahaba in Alabama. It quickly becomes apparent why so many died, but readers also learn how the five men mentioned above managed to survive until the war ended and were transferred to Camp Fisk in Vicksburg, Mississippi until transportation home could be arranged. Also covered are the use of steamboats during the war; the building and fitting out of the Sultana (including her lifesaving equipment); a problem that developed with her boilers; and how more than 2,000 POWs ended up aboard a boat that was only supposed to carry 376 passengers.

The final five chapters cover the explosion and its aftermath, how individuals reacted, rescue efforts, and the investigations into what happened and who was found culpable. Walker also discusses the rumors of sabotage, as well as what scientists of today believe caused the accident. To reinforce the magnitude of how many lost their lives, she compares the sinking of Sultana with the sinking of Titantic. Equally revealing are the reasons why the former tragedy isn’t as well known as the latter. In addition, she shares efforts by survivors, and later their descendants and interested parties, to make certain that no one forgets this tragedy. In her epilogue, Walker informs readers what happened to the five men she introduced early in the book, where the steamboat is now, and how the Mississippi has changed in the years since that fateful day.

Aside from Walker’s chronicling of events, what makes this book come alive are the passages from primary documents, such as Ely’s diary, and the many contemporary illustrations. Not only do these put faces to names, they vividly portray the realities of the prisons and the horror of that night. Two particularly poignant photographs show the effects of illness and starvation on an Andersonville prisoner, and the soldiers packed tighter than sardines on Sultana’s decks, while an engraving from Harper’s Weekly’s illustrates the burning inferno and survivors floating in the river. Also included are several maps, a glossary, source notes, a bibliography, and an index. Interspersed throughout the book are several special sections (pages with gray borders) that cover key points that require greater explanation than can be revealed in the normal telling of the story. These are explained in clear language that middle grade readers will readily understand without feeling as if they are being talked down to.

Walker’s depiction of this historical event is powerful, moving, and horrifying. After experiencing this book, readers come away with a better understanding that it’s never a single event that leads up to the crisis and that when the worst happens, people with disparate beliefs and life experiences willingly set aside their differences to help others, regardless of whether the disaster occurs today or in the past. Sinking the Sultana is a compelling retelling that graphically and realistically portrays the consequences of decisions made and the price paid by innocent people because of “fraud, greed, and clout.” (64)




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Polaris by Michael Northrop

Polaris by Michael Northrop

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Owen Ward eagerly watches the coast of Brazil from the deck of Polaris. He’s certain the crew distrusts him, perhaps even dislikes him, because he’s the captain’s nephew. This is particularly true of the other boys, since he holds the coveted position of cabin boy, while their duties are mundane and irksome. The launch disappeared a week ago, when eight of the ship’s best sailors transported his uncle, the first mate, the ship’s doctor, and the odd botanist upriver to collect specimens from the exotic flowers and trees.

Henry Neap, the botanist’s apprentice, was deemed too scrawny for an arduous journey. He also searches for the boat’s return; when the botanist chose him for an apprentice, he finally belonged. On the ship, he keeps clear of Owen, who reminds him of the bullies who persecuted him at school. When Henry spots the launch, it’s half-empty and among the missing are the botanist and ship’s doctor. Which means he alone . . . again.

A single trunk is hauled up and given to Obed Macy, a strong boy who rarely comes up from the dark stinky hold. Ordered to stow the trunk, he takes it below and doesn’t return. One of the returning sailors stumbles aboard and, over the next few days, grows clumsier and sicker. Angry whispers spread among the crew until finally, the captain orders the men to gather on deck, but locks all the boys except Obed in his cabin. Soon after shots are fired, and Owen knows that his uncle is dead.

After a time, the ship becomes eerily quiet. The boys force open the door to their prison, but no one is on deck. The crew set the ship on fire and fled in the launch. The boys stop the flames before they ignite the gunpowder, which would blow the ship to smithereens. Henry wonders why the mutineers abandoned Polaris. Owen takes command, knowing it’s up to him to take the ship home. But there are only five others left to help him sail Polaris: Manny and Mario Iglesias, hardworking brothers who share a secret; Aaron Burnett, the exceedingly slow and cautious powder monkey; Thacher Maybin, the new hold rat with the scarred face; and Henry, who is totally useless when it comes to working the sails and doing other ship-related tasks.

Another problem to overcome is the low food supply. Whenever they go below to bring some up, they encounter a strange smell, hear odd sounds, and feel as if something watches them. But if they can work together, they might just get home despite the fact that none of them know much about running a ship. If they make it through the storms. If the leaks don’t get bigger. If whatever lurks below, stays there.

Polaris is a spine-tingling tale of historical science fiction. The intended audience of this Junior Library Guild selection is students in grades three through eight, but even adults will find themselves sitting on the edge of their seats, holding their breath as they turn page after page. Northrop takes factual elements from the 1830s and spins a plausible – yet terrifying and compelling – story that is not for the squeamish or faint of heart.




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Evening Gray Morning Red

Evening Gray Morning Red by Rick Spilman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Being the only man aboard who knows how to navigate, Thomas Larkin is voted by the crew to take them to Massachusetts after the captain dies at sea. It is a lonesome and frightening experience, but also a challenging one for a sixteen year old who began the journey as an able seaman. With the help of John Stevens, the bosun and a former privateer nearly twice his age, Thom gets them safely home. They are greeted by an undercurrent of dissatisfaction mixed with anger, for the Crown expects the colonies to pay for debts England accrued during the war. The presence of the British warship anchored in the harbor merely aggravates the tense situation in 1768.

While Thom and Johnny celebrate their homecoming, as well as new jobs on a forthcoming cruise, a press gang invades the tavern. Johnny escapes, but Thom is swept up and taken aboard HMS Romney. Feeling honor bound to save his young friend and knowing he can’t do so ashore, Johnny volunteers to join the Royal Navy. After taking the king’s shilling, he realizes escaping the ship is nigh impossible. To complicate the situation, Thom seethes with anger at being denied his freedom and Lieutenant William Dudingston is an arrogant man who hates colonials.

Patience and observation provide an opportunity to escape, but the arrival of a fleet of British warships intervenes and instead of getting away, the Romney weighs anchor and heads south for the Caribbean. Five arduous months fraught with challenges and dangers, both on deck and at sea, finally present a new chance to desert during a brewing tempest. Yet freedom fails to lift the haunting weight Thom has carried with him during the voyage. Sooner or later he will once again encounter his nemesis, Dudingston, of this he has no doubt.

Gripping nautical and historical fiction at its best, Evening Gray Morning Red is really two different books that span four years. The first half focuses on the pressing and escape, while the second presents a tantalizing depiction of the historical confrontation between the packet boat Hannah and the Royal Navy Schooner Gaspee off Namquid Point, Rhode Island – an event that united the colonies and was a precursor to the American Revolution. Spilman deftly brings the period, people, and situation to life in a way that a history can never achieve. While there are occasional misspellings, missing words, or too many words, none of these diminish the excitement, anger, or fomenting rebellion that marked the actual event. From first page to last, he whisks readers back in time to stand beside Thom and Johnny and experience all the emotions and intrigue they do. When the back cover closes, it’s like leaving good friends. You miss being with them, but the voyage was more exciting and fulfilling than you ever imagined. Highly recommended.




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