My name is Mary "Jack" Faber. I'm a ship's boy on the Dolphin. Wait, that's not really true, because I'm actually a girl. Nobody on board knows it, and I'm real careful about keeping it secret. But that's not true either. I had to tell Jaimy I'm a girl on account of he likes me and thought it was weird liking a boy. Becoming a ship's boy keeps me from living on the streets, but it's still pretty dangerous hunting down pirates for His Majesty's Navy. A sleazy crewman named Sloat used to terrorize me, until I killed him with my shiv. It's getting harder to hide my body from the rest of the crew as I get older. I've got to get off this ship, but I don't want to leave Jaimy. I may not have any choice if I wait much longer.Imagine, a young coming of age on a ship full of sailors! Jacky's secret is the big conflict in the book. She does her best to be an excellent ship's boy, and she helps form the Brotherhood with the other new boys on board. Female readers can identify with her development issues and the confusion she feels throughout. Male readers can enjoy the description of men living aboard an old sailing warship, as they hunt down pirates. Although there are action scenes, the book is more about Jacky coming to terms with her own identity. She joined the crew for survival, tried to be the best ship's boy possible, but couldn't deny her own feminism in the end. This book is not the kind I normally read, but it was pretty good.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments unrelated to the books being described will be removed.