Sailing to Freedom
By Martha Bennett Stiles
Henry Holt and Company
2012
245 pages with glossary



Sailing To Freedom is Kentucky's Exhibit Choice for the 2012 National Book Fest

.

The year is 1839 and slave ships still deliver human cargo to America’s shores.

Twelve year old Ray Ingle dreams of going to sea with his father. Father tells him he’s still too young and too short, and to appease him, he leaves behind Allie, a tiny capuchin monkey. Ray is appeased for a while, but when his mother falls ill, Ray must live with his greedy and spiteful Uncle Slye. Uncle Slye hates Allie and makes Ray feel terrible, so Ray jumps at the chance to board the Newburyport Beauty and sail with his nice Uncle Thad.



Uncle Thad says Ray can help Cook in the kitchen. Cook is almost as mean as Uncle Slye, but Allie manages to get better food. Soon, she’s stealing the kitchen blind, and Cook is having a fit! They run into trouble and bad weather; next, they have to face tough bounty hunters who are looking for runaway slaves. Uncle Thad has a secret, and every member of the crew keeps the secret safe. Cook used to be a slave, and now is hiding something, too. Cook needs Ray’s help each day, and as he depends on Ray, he comes to trust him.



Told from Ray’s point of view, the story comes alive. Allie the monkey adds comic relief and is a worthy sea-worthy sidekick. The glossary is helpful for readers not familiar with sailing terms.



Recommended grades 4-up. Students may need some background information about America and slave ships, Abolitionists, bounty hunters, and the Amistad.



FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the author. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.




Pamela Thompson, MLIS

Library Media Specialist

Col. John O. Ensor Middle School

13600 Ryderwood

El Paso, TX

915-937-6018

pthomp@sisd.net

visit 2012 High School Blog of the Year http://booksbypamelathompson.blogspot.com/



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An engaging, enjoyable mix of antebellum history and seafaring adventure. ( )

This was a quick read. I liked the book because it gave some incite into the underground railroad and slavery as well as the treatment of young people who worked in the mills in the 1800's. ( )

It is 1852 and twelve-year-old Raymond Justin Ingle Jr. (Ray) lives in Newburyport, MA, with his father who is captain of the clipper ship Black Skimmer, and his mother. Ray’s father returns home from a voyage, gives Ray a capuchin monkey named Allie which had been abandoned by a sailor, and then has to leave again. Ray thinks that he’s old enough to sign aboard, but his father says no, not until he’s grown a little more. After Captain Ingle leaves, Mrs. Ingle receives a letter from her sister in Boston who is having twins and needs help. So Mam leaves too, having made arrangements for Ray, along with Allie, to stay with his Uncle Slye, a stingy miser who runs a grocery down the street, and work in the store to pay for his keep.

Ray learns two things about his Uncle Slye—he hates monkeys and is plotting with an oily slave catcher named Phineas Ward to capture a slave baby whom some smuggler is trying to transport north in defiance of the terms of the Fugitive Slave Law. When Allie makes a mess of Uncle Slye’s store, Ray takes the monkey and runs away. After hearing some sailors talking about a fruit ship which has the reputation of hauling “two-legged black spiders,” he learns that his Uncle Thad’s schooner, the Newburyport Beauty, has just docked, so he asks Uncle Thad if he can go with him. Thad agrees and brings Ray aboard as a cook’s apprentice. Ray knows that Cook used to be a slave but is now free. However, while working in the galley, Ray discovers what Cook is hiding in the kitchen pantry. What is it? And how might it endanger all their lives?

Sailing to Freedom is great children’s fiction in a historical setting. Author Martha Bennett Stiles, who has also written One Among the Indians about the settlement of Jamestown, has a way of grabbing the reader’s attention immediately by creating true-to-life characters who are involved in an exciting story. There are some references to smoking a pipe, chewing tobacco, and drinking brandy, and the childish slang term “fart” is used a few times. However, on at least a couple of occasions Ray gives credit to the presence and mercy of God for saving him from tight situations. A glossary is included at the back to help those who may not be familiar with a lot of sailing vocabulary. Also of interest is the intertwined story of an African-American boy Ogun, who is about the same age as Ray, and his family as they were escaping slavery in South Carolina up to the point of their meeting in Canada with the Newburyport Beauty and its cargo. The book will help to make the concepts of slavery and the Underground Railroad very real to young readers. ( )