The Secret Journey [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Grade 3-6-A story set in England in the 1830s. Faced with the prospect of being left with relatives whom she cannot stand while her father takes her ailing mother to France, almost 12-year-old Emma disguises herself as a boy and decides to stow away on her parents' ship. On her way to the docks, some ill-intentioned sailors direct her to a ship headed for Africa, and she sneaks aboard. Once discovered, she becomes the cabin boy. Unbelievably, none of the crew suspects that she is a girl. During a storm, the vessel goes down and only Emma survives. She is washed ashore, where she builds herself a lean-to and forages for food. After saving a baby chimpanzee, its mother then cares for her when she is stricken with malaria. Once she is well again, Emma forms the word "help" out of vines and hangs it from the trees and is finally rescued after four months in the jungle. On her return to England, she is surprised to learn that her mother and father have not been told of her disappearance and are expecting her to join them in France. Despite some implausibility, the story is adventurous and enjoyable. The hanging suspense at the end of each chapter encourages readers to continue, and the fast pace will appeal to reluctant readers.
Sarah Smith, Harrison Community Library, MI
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Twelve-year-old Emma can be headstrong. Therefore, it doesn't come as too much of a surprise when she decides to stow away on the ship taking her parents to France. Unfortunately, Emma's innocence makes her an easy mark along the 1834 Liverpool waterfront. Wickedly led astray, she mistakenly stows away aboard a slave trading ship bound for Africa. Once discovered, Emma crops off her hair, fools the crew, and works hard as the ship's boy. When a storm destroys the ship along the coast of Liberia, Emma washes ashore, the sole survivor. Until her rescue four months later, the plucky young girl survives in the jungle, observing and learning from the chimps. A fast-paced adventure, with superb backdrop details, the book becomes all the more fascinating when one reads the author's immensely illuminating notes about how she conducted her research to make the story as authentic as possible. Karen Simonetti --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Taking a page from Avi's The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (1990), Kehret (I'm Not Who You Think I Am, p. 223, etc.) pens a similar story of a girl who goes to sea. Determined not to be separated from her seriously ill mother, Emma, 12, embarks on a plan that results in the adventure of a lifetime. Sent to live with Aunt Martha and her arrogant son, Odolf, Emma carefully plots her escape. Disguising herself in her cousin's used clothes, she sneaks out while the household slumbers and stows away on what she believes to be a ship carrying her parents from England to the warmer climate of France. Instead, the ship is the evil, ill-fated Black Lightning, under the command of the notorious Captain Beacon. Emma finds herself sharing quarters with a crew of filthy, surly, dangerous men. When a fierce storm swamps the ship, Emma desperately seizes her chance to escape, drifting for several days and nights aboard a hatch cover and finally carried to land somewhere on the coast of Africa. Hungry, thirsty, and alone, Emma faces the daunting prospect of slow starvation, but survives due to a relationship she builds with a band of chimpanzees. This page-turning adventure story shows evidence of solid research and experienced plottingthe pacing is breathless. Kehret paints a starkly realistic portrait, complete with sounds and smells of the difficult and unpleasant life aboard ship. (Fiction. 8-12) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

SWEPT AWAY...

Twelve-year-old Emma Bolton is determined to join her father and her sick mother on their voyage to France. She'll do anything to escape Aunt Martha and hateful cousin Odolf! So she disguises herself as a boy and sneaks aboard a vessel she's told is her parents' ship. Too late, Emma discovers that she's a stowaway on Black Lightning, the most notorious slave ship afloat! Her only hope is to hide in plain sight as "William," ship's boy for the cruel Captain Isaac Bacon?until a violent storm causes a shipwreck, leaving her marooned on the raging seas off the coast of Africa, with only her wits to keep her alive... --This text refers to the Paperback edition.