“His face appeared to be floating in air. Terrified, I could only stare into his hollow and unseeing eyes, for so they seemed in the flickering light. ‘Is that you Charlotte?’ came a voice. His voice. ‘What are you?’ I managed to ask.” chp. 17 (p. 149 in printed version)
Reader's Annotation
In 1832, circumstances force Charlotte Doyle to travel from England to the United States on a cargo ship with an all-male crew, and she is the only passenger. On her voyage she will experience more than she dreamed of, challenging her own notions of proper behavior, and defending her very life...
About the Author
Struggling with dysgraphia through his teenage years, Avi (he does not use his last name of Wortis), eventually earned a Master’s degree and worked as a public and academic librarian, and a teacher. In 1986, he decided to focus solely on writing. He has published more than 50 children’s books and has won the Newbery Medal.
Genre
Historical fiction
Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 11-14. Although the lexile level of the printed text is 4th grade, I think that due to the seriousness of some of its themes, 6th-8th graders will get the most out of it.
Plot Summary
Charlotte Doyle is a thirteen-year-old girl from an affluent family, returning to Rhode Island after seven years in England. As the rest of her family has traveled ahead of her, she is scheduled to make the voyage on the Seahawk accompanied by two families known to hers. Upon her arrival on board, however, she learns that she will actually be the only passenger on ship, with an all-male crew. At the start of the journey, she is bound – trapped almost -- by her own adherence to the social rules which her parents and teachers have instilled in her, falling back on what she feels they would advise in every situation. Social propriety, however, as she soon learns, is not enough to manage the askew dynamic on this ship, whose crew plans revenge on their captain for his past ill-treatment of a shipmate. Charlotte develops friendships with two very different key figures on board: Captain Jaggery, whose outward appearance and manner remind of her accustomed social world, and Zachariah, whose black skin and sailor status at first make Charlotte -- inculcated in the prejudices of her previous milieu -- doubt his honesty and professed desire to befriend her. But when Jaggery viciously crushes an attempted mutiny, Charlotte decides she must choose a side. For this, she is accused and found guilty of murder, imprisoned, and sentenced to death.
Critical Evaluation
This is a very exciting story, which I intended to listen to in my car over a couple weeks or so, but could not resist hearing the second part of all at once. Told in the first-person, it dramatically places the listener/reader in Charlotte’s head, catching us up in her fears and paths of reasoning through experiences which are frightening, confusing, and/or just new to her. We palpably feel her growth from dependence to a degree of boldness, self-confidence, and critical thinking. From the start and throughout the story, in many moments we sense Charlotte’s essential aloneness, reflecting I think the fact that when it comes down to it, we must all be ready to live by our own individual convictions of what is right and wrong, regardless of whether those around us support us or not. This audiobook is read very thoughtfully by Alexandra O’Karma. I at first thought her voice too subdued for that of a thirteen-year old, but soon realized that her initially somewhat muted tone matched well with Charlotte’s initial concern with decorum and socially correct behavior. As I compared the audiobook to the printed text, I saw how much meaning and suspense O’Karma had added with her emphases on certain key words and passages. Overall, although the transformation of Charlotte into an independent young woman and her ultimate dramatic decision about her life path do not seem completely believable (as they happen over such a short time period), this does not take away from the impact of this book. Its high adventure and first-person narrative made me feel as if I were actually on the Seahawk myself, experiencing 19th-century cargo ship life, and faced with the challenging decisions that Charlotte had to make.
Booktalking Ideas
• Talk about the warnings that Charlotte receives regarding travelling on the Seahawk, the knife she is given by Zachariah because something “might happen”, etc., and ask booktalk listeners what they would do if they were Charlotte?
• Talk about the contrast between Charlotte’s former life and the conditions she finds on her first day on ship.
• Talk about the fact that Charlotte is put on trial, found guilty of murder, and sentenced to death.
Curriculum Ideas: Text → Classroom
• Ship design → history, listening skills: as a group, students draw a rough outline of the Seahawk’s design based on what they remember from the audiobook; they then compare this to the labeled drawing of the ship in the print version of the text
• Nautical life → history, language arts: students find recipes for and cook 19th-century ship foods like hard tack, sailor’s delight, etc.; all students share these in a potluck while reading aloud “sailors’ yarns” they’ve each written
• Charlotte's vs. the sailors' social worlds → history: students can check out Emily Phillips's pathfinder, an amazingly comprehensive resource she created just for this book
Challenge Issues
I am not aware of any challenges to the book/audiobook. If the work were to be challenged however, one could defend it by noting that the moments of violence are very few and are not overly graphic, and of course that this is a Newbery Honor Book.
Why I Chose This Book
Apart from this being a Newbery Honor Book, the words “true confessions” in the title clinched it for me, as it sounded like it could be an open and honest account told in the first-person, the narrative point of view I enjoy most.
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