The Voyage of Patience Goodspeed

The Voyage of Patience Goodspeed was written by Heather Vogel Frederick. This book is historical fiction and the book toke place in the Nantucket Islands between 1835-1836. The crew traveled over the ocean hunting for whales. It's about a girl and her brother whose father is out at sea when their mother died. The father comes back to take the children with him and when he does the first mate get's hurt and has to go home but his replacement takes over the ship. Patience is a kind girl because she takes care of her hyper brother. Thunderes is always hyper and can't swim. Bridgewater is a bad person because he deserted some of the crew. Bridgewater toke over the ship and some of the crew is deserted. My favorite part of the book is when Patience put's Laudanum in the biscuit's to get back at Bridgewater for taking the ship and Bridgewater thought the biscuits were good because Laudanum was a drug. I give it 5 stars because if you stop reading for a bit once you put it down you start to wonder what will happen next. I would recommend it for children 9-12 because there is some violence.

Twelve-year-old Patience Goodspeed and her younger brother, six-year-old Tad, were raised by their mother in Nantucket while their father, the captain of a whaling ship, sailed the world on long voyages lasting up to four years. But when their mother dies, Patience's father decides that she and Tad will accompany him on his next voyage on the Morning Star. Patience doesn't want to leave Nantucket and live on a whaling ship. She finds it hard to adjust to life on board, and misses lessons with her math tutor back to Nantucket. But when a mutiny occurs on board the ship, Patience -- and her talent for math -- may be all that can save her father. I highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy historical fiction. It is very well written, and the story flows along well. Patience is a great character, and I loved the setting on board a whaling ship, as this is an unusual setting in historical fiction for kids and teens. I can't wait to read the sequel and find out what adventures await Patience next.

I picked this book up remembering my childhood vacations on Nantucket and was really glad I did. I can recall as a child learning something about whaling and wondering what life was really like on one of the ships, and now here's a story to answer that question. I'm planning to share this book with all the 10-year-old girls I know.

Patience captured my interest as an adult, and I enjoyed it because of the accuracy of the whaling and sailing history and technology, and the easy flow of descriptive writing. This is the kind of book which children from 8 to 13 can get lost in and not want to put down. The plot is exciting and after all is said and done, one wonders where Patience will go next?

This author made a whole world come alive, and even though I wasn't sure I would like a story that had whaling in it, it was really fun to read. I couldn't put the book down until Patience was safe again.