Sailing Home: A Story of a Childhood at Sea

Meet the Madsen family, Father, Mother, Albert, Dagmar, baby Ena, and our narrator, Mathilda. They lived aboard a four-masted sailing ship, captained by their father, that carried cargo all over the world in the late 1800s. As Mathilda tells us, their accommodations were luxurious, large bedrooms, fine furnishings, and even a marble fireplace in the main saloon, and their life aboard ship was rich with adventure and full of fun. "Unlike most homes, our didn't stay put. At night, the ship kept moving, so every morning we woke up far away from where we'd gone to sleep." They had the huge deck for play, a menagerie of pets, including a pig, kangaroo, mongoose, and monkey, astronomy lessons by night, and geography lessons as they sailed the world by day. Theirs was a unique and fascinating life, and when in port they always wanted to know, "When do we sail? When are we going back out to sea?" Gloria and Ted Rand have authored an intriguing and informative story, based on entries from the journal kept by Ena and her father, Captain Madsen. The engaging text is gripping and full of emotion, and beautifully enhanced by Mr Rand's expressive artwork. Together, word and art pull you into the story, and transport you to the high seas and another time and place. With an afterword and photo gallery to complete and personalize the story, Sailing Home is an amazing and entertaining book that's perfect for youngsters 7-10, or as a read-aloud story the entire family can share.