Obadiah the Bold

This is a charming book about little Quaker boy Obadiah Starbuck and his new spyglass. I enjoyed reading it to my children (and they enjoyed listening to it) and look forward to reading the rest of the books in this series.

I attended a Quaker college not too long ago, leaving me with a mess of Quaker friends as a result. Speaking with one the other day, we got to talking about children's books. In the past this friend has brought my attention to such wonderful picture book classics as "The Maggie B." and I was eager to ask her opinion regarding Quaker picture books. As far as I could determine, there aren't many of them out there. My friend quickly assured me that when she was growing up she had the luck to attend the same Meeting as the author Brinton Turkle. Mr. Turkle would even read to the children from his "Obadiah" series. I had to admit that I'd never read an "Obadiah" book, much less read one. Without further ado, my friend insisted that I read one. So I located, "Obadiah the Bold", read it through once, read it through twice, and came to a single solitary conviction. This book is absolutely fantastic and should be better known, consarn it! The plot takes place in early colonial America. Obadiah is the fourth child in a Quaker family of seven and he has recently been given a beautiful spyglass (telescope to you laymen). During meeting Obadiah has dutifully returned the spyglass home but has come to a decision regarding his future occupation. He would like to be a pirate. He would be Obadiah the Bold, Terror of the Seven Seas. This seems like a pretty good plan and his father has to admit that there has never been a piratical Starbuck in the family before. But when Obadiah insists that his older siblings play pirate with his, he is shocked to find himself bound and gagged before being forced to walk the plank. Somehow this aspect of the pirate life never really occurred to him before. When he asks his father about the matter, he's told that truly few pirates were as brave as Obadiah's grandfather. That man sailed around the Horn four times and was the captain of a fine ship. With joy, Obadiah is able to use his spyglass once again and now he has a new future occupation in mind. One his grandfather would have been proud of. I read this book through initially with a wary eye. I know a lot of Quakers and I know a lot of Quakerly misconceptions. There are people to this day that will get Quakers mixed up with the Amish. I don't know how many times I've mentioned that I went to a Quaker school only to be asked, "Could you wear buttons?". So I was naturally worried that this book might perpetuate those stereotypes. In a way you could argue that it does. I mean, there are a lot of "thee" and "thous" but at the same time this is obviously a historical piece. Moreover, I kind of enjoyed that the Quaker meeting was self-explanatory. There was no long drawn out explanation about the events. The book also made it perfectly clear that when you get down to it, there's just not a lot of difference between boys in the 1700s and boys today. I mean, Obadiah wants to be a pirate. Today, one of the best selling picture books is the charming, "How

This was the first in a series of books about Obadiah Starbuck, a charming little six-year-old Quaker boy in colonial-era Nantucket. In this story, Obadiah dreams of being a "fearless" pirate who has exciting adventures on the high seas. His dream ends when his older siblings play such a rough and frightening game of pirate with him that he realizes he is not as fearless as he would like to be. His father saves the day by telling him about his grandfather, the captain of a sailing ship, who was braver than any pirate, because he sailed the seas and had adventures without ever hurting anyone, the way pirates do. And so Obadiah begins to refashion his old dream in a more positive, peaceful direction.This is a wonderful book about what it really means to be a brave man. What I especially like about it is the character of ObadiahÕs father. When Obadiah first announces that he wants to be a pirate, his father, a gentle Quaker man who surely must have been shocked, says only that he hopes Obadiah will be a good one. Later, when he speaks of ObadiahÕs grandfather, you hear in his voice both family pride and love for his son. I think this is the best portrait of a patient and caring father IÕve seen in childrenÕs literature. The book doesnÕt just lecture about what it means to be a good man, the father embodies it. That alone makes this book priceless.If youÕre as charmed by Obadiah as I am, there are three more books about him Ñ Thy Friend Obadiah, Rachel and Obadiah, and The Adventures of Obadiah. All of them are superb.