- Hardcover: 112 pages
- Publisher: Groundwood Books (Sep 1 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 088899561X
- ISBN-13: 978-0888995612
- Product Dimensions: 24.9 x 16.8 x 1.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 458 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#276,145 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #19 in Books > Children's Books > People & Places > Multicultural Stories > African Canadian
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Product Details |
Product Description
From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up--Written in free verse, this novel is based on true events that took place off the treacherous coast of Newfoundland in 1828. Seventeen-year-old Ann Harvey helped her father rescue 163 passengers who were stranded after a ship carrying Irish immigrants ran aground. Major takes inspiration from the teen's proven courage, creating first-person poems in the voice of a dreaming, restless young woman eager to experience more of the world than her family's cod-fishing routine. Ann's poems alternate with those narrated by Seamus, a fictional shipwreck survivor hoping to find wealth and love in America. He entreats Ann to join him in his new life. Historical details, both real and imagined, make for a dramatic story. However, because the real-life Ann stayed in Newfoundland and married a local man, Major must attempt to explain her choice not to join the dashing Seamus. He has already established his heroine's character as stouthearted and yearning for adventure, so readers may question her decision to remain in her monotonous life. Atmospheric full-page illustrations in somber tones of gray add to the mood. Joan Elizabeth Goodman's Paradise(Houghton, 2002), which is also based on true events, presents a more compelling account of doomed young love and the rugged Canadian landscape. Libraries with either a geographic connection or a high demand for novels in verse should consider Ann and Seamus.--Eve Ortega, Cypress Library, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Gr. 5-9. In 1828, 211 people were shipwrecked off the south coast of Newfoundland. This spare, melancholy novel in verse was inspired by Ann Harvey, the 17-year-old fisherman's daughter who helped row 163 of the victims to safety. Canadian writer Major portrays Ann as a restless dreamer who yearns for knowledge and broader experience but is grimly aware of her isolation, flatly lamenting, "What learning's here is fish." Ann's voice is briefly interrupted with that of Irish teenager Seamus, an invented character whose quest for a better life finds him aboard the doomed ship. When their lives converge, the romance that develops is not entirely convincing, perhaps because the constraints of verse hinder a full exploration of the characters' worlds. Even so, young readers will respond to the visceral language (the ship is a "lurching vessel of seasickness") as well as Ann's confusion as she contemplates her future. Subdued artwork in the bluish-gray tones of sea and spray sustains the brooding mood, and an endnote provides historical context. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Who would ever want it said they dwell in a place with such a name? Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Who would ever want it said they dwell in a place with such a name? Read the first page
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lovely fictional story of a forgotten historical hero,
By
This review is from: Ann and Seamus (Hardcover)
Kevin Major's short prose poems detailing snippets of the 1800s immigrant life of Ann, who lives in Newfoundland, and Seamus, who is aboard a ship emigrating from Ireland, is beautifully crafted and reminiscent of oral storytelling and songwriting traditions. The story revolves around the meeting of Ann and Seamus when Seamus' ship runs upon a reef off the coast of Newfoundland. Ann and her family make a heroic effort and save many lives. But the story of Ann goes deeper than her selfless help in the shipwreck and Major has worked in some insightful passages as Ann struggles to make herself, her family, and Seamus happy. This beautiful book - it would not far-fetched to call this an art book - is an interesting mix of unusual historical fiction detailing a young woman's heroism and coming-of-age highlighted by seven of David Blackwood's monochromatic and atmospheric illustrations. A nice gift book and a wonderful read for any age.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lovely fictional story of a forgotten historical hero,
By Jessica Ferguson "threelittlebirds" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Ann and Seamus (Hardcover)
Kevin Major's short prose poems detailing snippets of the 1800s immigrant life of Ann, who lives in Newfoundland, and Seamus, who is aboard a ship emigrating from Ireland, is beautifully crafted and reminiscent of oral storytelling and songwriting traditions. The story revolves around the meeting of Ann and Seamus when Seamus' ship runs upon a reef off the coast of Newfoundland. Ann and her family make a heroic effort and save many lives. But the story of Ann goes deeper than her selfless help in the shipwreck and Major has worked in some insightful passages as Ann struggles to make herself, her family, and Seamus happy. This beautiful book - it would not far-fetched to call this an art book - is an interesting mix of unusual historical fiction detailing a young woman's heroism and coming-of-age highlighted by seven of David Blackwood's monochromatic and atmospheric illustrations. A nice gift book and a wonderful read for any age. |
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