Book Review: The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

February Book giveaways

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by AVI



A Newberry Honor book

Publisher: Scholastic

Pages: 210

Copyright: 1990

This book is a classic. The setting is 1832. A thirteen year old girl sets sail for home from England to Providence, Rhode Island.

Charlotte is led to believe there will be other families onboard the ship. She finds out too late that she is the only female aboard a ship with a mean captain that pushes his men beyond exhaustion. The crew plans a mutiny and were able to discourage the other families from boarding. Charlotte was not so lucky. Caught in the middle, Charlotte must decide where her loyalties lie.

Too late she realizes her mistake. In an effort to make amends, she joins the rank of the crew. She learns to tie knots, swab the deck and scrape the hull. During a hurricane she climbs the masts to cut the sails loose in order to save herself and shipmates. She believes in justice and the captain's injustice grates on her. But what can a mere girl do in the face of all this enmity?

She has but one friend and he is killed. Or so she thought. She is accused of murder and stands trial. She is sentenced to hang.

Through a desperate plot she approaches the captain's cabin only to find him waiting for her. Who betrayed her?

She has but one chance to set things right.

After returning home, can Charlotte become the girl she was when she first boarded the Seahawk?

Girls and boys alike will enjoy this harrowing book of adventure.

At the back are diagrams of the ship and the parts labeled.

There is also an author interview and directions on how to draw a ship.

I hope you will enjoy this book as much as I.

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Winners of this book and the book Creating Character Emotions will be announced next week.

Check back to see if you are a winner.

Sheila