The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle [sound recording], by Avi

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle [sound recording], by Avi. Narrated by Alexandra O’Karma. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 1992 [print version published 1990 by Orchard Books]. 5 cassettes/6.5 hours. ISBN-10: 1556905939


“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.

Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story about Brain Science, by John Fleischman

Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story about Brain Science, by John Fleischman. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002. 86 pp. ISBN-10 0618052526


“The case of Phineas Gage suggests that we are human because our frontal lobes are set up so we can get along with other humans. We are ‘hard-wired’ to be sociable. When we lose that ability, we end up like Phineas. His closest companion was an iron rod.” p. 70


Reader’s Annotation
On the afternoon of September 13, 1848, a thirteen-pound iron rod accidentally shoots through Phineas Gage’s head, ramming right through his brain. Amazingly he survives, but his life and personality are changed completely…

About the Author
John Fleischman lives in Ohio and writes for the American Society for Cell Biology and magazines such as Discover and Air and Space Smithsonian. When he attended a festival commemorating the 150th anniversary of Phineas’s accident, he saw that many children couldn’t get enough of Phineas’s skull, and decided that he wanted to write a book about him.

Genre
Nonfiction (science)

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 10-12 overall. Contrary to what some suggest, I think this text's a tad advanced for nine-year-olds. But the book would actually even be helpful at the junior-high level and beyond to reinforce key brain science concepts.

Content Summary
In this work, Fleischman weaves together the details of the effects of Phineas Gage’s accident on his personality with discussion of both historical and modern brain science. In 1848, while working as railroad construction foreman in Vermont, Phineas’s tamping iron slips too soon into the granite that the crew is blasting. The iron rod is thus sent shooting up, entering Phineas under his left cheekbone and exiting the middle of his forehead, traveling through the frontal cortex of his brain. After a ten-week recovery, it becomes clear that Phineas has changed from a formerly agreeable and organized man to one who can be insulting and changes his mind frequently. Unable to keep his foreman position, he travels New England and works at a stable (also exhibiting himself briefly at P.T. Barnum’s American Museum), and eventually travels to Chile to work as a stagecoach driver. When he later returns to the U.S., he begins experiencing repeated seizures and ultimately dies in his sister’s home. Throughout his historical narrative, Fleischman describes the corresponding brain science issues. He discusses the competing mid-19th century brain theories of “whole intelligence” and phrenology, and current 21st century research which indicates that different areas of the brain, working both alone and in tandem, control specific human behaviors. Fleischman focuses on current scientific findings that the frontal cortex controls our abilities to predict, make decisions, and interact socially. He highlights the fact that 21st-century patients who have undergone frontal cortex tumor surgery can experience the same personality changes that Phineas did. He discusses modern brain scan techniques, and a fascinating retroactive brain scan of Phineas himself. The possible consequences of brain concussion and the damage that bacteria such as staphylococci and streptococci can do to the brain are also discussed.

Critical Evaluation
Although its title’s wonderfully creepy Janson font and use of the word “gruesome” both bode well, I approached this text with some trepidation, having taken a difficult brain anatomy course myself in my undergraduate years. I was thus shocked (pleasantly so) when I realized that I had flown through the text in no time, and had not only understood, but also thoroughly enjoyed it. Fleischman has written an excellent book for all ages with his interweaving of science and history, each subject counterbalancing and making the other more digestible, depending on the reader’s particular bent. Fleischman’s explanations are very clear, and key points are reiterated with labeled photos and drawings. Chapters are a nice manageable length, giving us non-science people the feeling that we are making progress and should continue. And there are lots of interesting tidbits mentioned (e.g., the fact that 19th-century doctors often waited until after surgery to wash their hands). The glossary and list of resources are very helpful, although the latter could be expanded somewhat. But one of the most outstanding aspects of this text, and one that I wish he’d explored in more depth (but then again, this text is science/history, and not philosophy), is Fleischman’s request that the reader consider whether Phineas was lucky or unlucky, having survived an awful accident, but then having to live a changed man. This is an issue we can all ponder and relate to our own personal experience, considering how to make the best of sudden life change.

Booktalking Ideas
• Show a model of a skull with a rod through it, drawing in readers with the sheer drama of this true account.
• Talk about Phineas’s marked personality changes.
• Show and compare a 19th-century phrenology chart with its various brain "organs" (organ of friendship, organ of hope, etc.) with a modern full color brain scan.

Curriculum Ideas: Text → Classroom
• Brain anatomy → science: students conduct some of the experiments on Dr. Eric Chudler’s Neuroscience for Kids site (on Fleischman’s resource list)
• Gaps in knowledge of Phineas’s post-accident life → history: students research great-grandparents’ lives, giving them first-hand experience of the challenges historians face
• Phrenology → history, fun: students play the 19th-century parlor game of “reading” each others’ personalities by comparing the bumps on their heads to a phrenological chart

Challenge Issues
If this book were to be challenged on the grounds that the description of Phineas’s accident may frighten younger readers, one could defend it by highlighting the book's value in its engaging discussion of what is often a difficult topic, brain anatomy. Adults could mitigate younger children’s fears by stressing that what happened to Phineas was a freak accident.

Why I Chose This Book
I read about this book on Richie Partington’s blog.