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Searching... Stillwater Public Library | Q J 921 SLOCUM | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
One of the most renowned sailing captains of his time, Joshua Slocum was born by the sea and spent most of his life on it. He took his bride aboard ship with him, and they even raised their children there. But as the nineteenth century drew to a close, Captain Slocum found that his skills were no longer in demand. Gas, steam, and electricity were powering transportation, not wind. In 1895, now a widower in his fifties, he set off on the Spray, an old sloop that he had rebuilt plank by plank. He planned to sail around the world all alone. No one had ever done this before, and some said no one ever would.Here is a true and triumphant story, gracefully written and splendidly illustrated.
Author Notes
Kathryn Lasky was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on June 24, 1944, and knew she wanted to be a writer from the time she was ten. She majored in English in college and after graduation wrote for various magazines and taught. Her first book, I Have Four Names for My Grandfather, was published while she was teaching.
She has written more than seventy books for children and young adults on everything from historical fiction to picture books and nonfiction books including the Dear America books and the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series. Many of her books are illustrated with photographs by her husband, Christopher Knight. She has received many awards for her titles including Sugaring Time which was a Newberry Honor Book; The Night Journey which won the National Jewish Book Award for Children; Pageant which was an ALA Notable Children's book; and Beyond the Burning Time which was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. She has also received the Washington Post's Children's Book Guild Award for her contribution to children's nonfiction. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-4-A fine, beautifully rendered book. In the mid-1800s, 14-year-old Slocum ran away to sea to escape the drudgery of his father's boot shop. By the time he was 25, he was a sea captain. Married life and child rearing took place aboard ship. Nine chapters take readers through the Slocums' travels and adventurous experiences. Oil paintings, many of which are full- or double-page, capture the bold feel of this story. However, readers may be left wanting a bit more detail about some of the incidents and events described. Also, there is no glossary for words that may need some explanation, such as brigantines and Chinese junk. No source notes are included, although Slocum's autobiography and biography are quoted at the head of several chapters. However, these concerns are minor. This is a wonderful story, remarkably illustrated, especially suited for classroom reading.-Anne Chapman Callaghan, Racine Public Library, WI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
Captain John Slocum, a sailing man sadly outmoded by the growing dependence on steamships, rebuilt the old sloop [cf2]Spray[cf1] and set off in 1895 to become the first man to sail solo around the world. This picture book biography is a bit text-heavy, a fact not helped by the muddy oil illustrations, but the engrossing story mostly overcomes the drawbacks. From HORN BOOK Spring 2002, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Young readers intrigued by the brief encounter with Slocum, the first man to sail solo around the world, in Robert J. Blake's Spray (1996) will welcome this expanded look at the life of one of the Age of Sail's last great seamen. A full captain by the age of 25, Slocum sailed many ships, raised his family on some of them, undertook his epic voyage on a 36-foot sloop he rebuilt himself, and ultimately disappeared at sea. Drawing from Slocum's memoirs, still in print after more than a century, Lasky (Starring Lucille, see below, etc.) focuses on storms, shipwrecks, mutinies, exotic ports of call-and also his doughty wife Virginia, whose facility with a revolver came in handy more than once. The salt breeze seems to flow from Krudop's (My Great-Grandmother's Gourd, 2000, etc.) impressionistic, thickly brushed scenes of tall ships and ramrod straight figures in 19th-century dress. Lasky, a veteran sailor herself, sends children on a voyage they won't soon forget, with a man for whom land never meant "home." (Biography. 10-13)
Booklist Review
Gr. 3-5. Joshua Slocum, who grew up in Nova Scotia in the mid-1800s, went to sea in his teens and spent his life as a sailor and later a captain of sailing ships. He married an adventurous woman, who joined him on his travels and raised their children at sea. Toward the end of the century, "the age of the great sailing ships was drawing to a close," and Slocum found himself out of work. He repaired an old sloop and, in 1898, became the first man to sail around the world alone. This smoothly written story is illustrated with handsome oil paintings. A typical spread includes a large (often full-page) impressionistic painting and a smaller one, along with a few paragraphs of text. The artwork is somewhat sophisticated, but it is still accessible for the intended age group. An interesting introduction to an intriguing man. Carolyn Phelan