John Tabor's Ride

 I found this recently at a flea and was quite smitten!  Sea stories and accompanying folklore always draw me in.  Blair Lent's illustrations (woodcuts?  linocuts?) feel old fashioned but mesmerizing.  

John Tabor's Ride

Blair Lent 1966

John Tabor has been shipwrecked when along comes the most curious character, a man who looks a hundred years old wearing a "greasy wool sweater and a pair of tarred and tattered trousers."  No sooner does he catch a whale than he takes John Tabor on a ride around the world back to his home in Nantucket.  This is just the sort of old magical sea chanty kind of book that we would spend Summer afternoons reading.

Dazzle Ships

 Even Chris was taken with this book and the true story it tells of the ships that were painted with dazzling designs during World War I.  It was a crazy idea born out of desperation to stop the deadly German U-boat attacks that were crippling Britain.  It's a fascinating story that combines history and art and warfare and ships and gives the reader the desire to learn more.  There's a timeline, actual photographs and an informative author and illustrator's note in the back pages.  It was also fun to learn the role that women artists played in painting the ships those outrageous designs.  

Dazzle Ships

Chris Barton

illustrated by Victo Ngai 2017

The Strange Voyage of Neptune's Car

The Strange Voyage of Neptune's Car

Joe Lasker 1977

 This is a pretty incredible true story about young Mary Patton who took over command of her husband's clipper ship, Neptune's Car, when he became ill.  Not only was she only 19 years old, but she was pregnant at the time!  Able to navigate and read charts, Mary brought the ship to harbor in San Francisco after rounding the most treacherous path of Cape Horn.  Joe Lasker's retelling is accompanied by his illustrations that resemble old photographs.

Benjy's Boat Trip

Benjy's Boat Trip

Margaret Bloy Graham 1977

 Another adorable Benjy book by Margaret Bloy Graham.  This one hits especially close to home since we are about to go overseas for a couple weeks and leave Molly in the care of a neighbor.  I'm already worried that she'll think we've abandoned her!

In Graham's story Benjy's family boards a ship for a cruise, leaving him with Aunt Mary.  Of course the kids and Benjy are sad.  So later when he sees a ship at the port he thinks it's the same one with his family on it and he breaks away from Aunt Mary and runs aboard.

Not only is he stuck on a strange ship, but there's also the ship cat who doesn't like him.  The cook soon finds Benjy and takes care of him, feeding him hamburgers and letting him sleep on his bed.  Eventually everyone onboard, even the cat, become his friends.  Not to worry, there is a happy reunion with his family at the end!

Other books illustrated by Margaret Bloy Graham:

Be Nice to Spiders

The Storm Book

The Wreckers, The Smugglers, The Buccheners

The Wreckers 1999

The Smugglers 2000

The Buccaneers 2003

Iain Lawrence

I could not put these books down.  One I finished in a day, it was so gripping.  A bit gruesome, mysterious and plenty of adventure.  Charlotte read the first two but admitted to me that they were more grisly than she expected (there's a description of a drowning that particularly bothered her).  Taking place in the 19th century along the English coast, they're a treat for readers who like historical fiction a little on the dark side.  (Maybe for older YA readers).  

The Maggie B.

The MAGGIE B 
Irene Haas 1975

The best thing for a cold rainy day is a pot of tea and a pile of books. We pulled out some of our favorites- The Maggie B is one, though it’s good reading in any weather.

Margaret Barnstable wished on a star one night-
North Star, star of the sea,
I wish for a ship
Named after me,
To sail for a day
Alone and free,
With someone nice
For company.

She wakes up to find herself on the Maggie B with her little brother, James. The ship has everything she needs, a cozy cabin, a little farm on the poop deck, even a goat for warm milk.



She teaches James to count and paints a portrait of him while he naps. Then she makes a fish stew on the stove just in time before a storm hits. Everything is warm and snug inside their cabin where they eat stew and muffins and baked peaches before settling into bed.

After juice-and-cookie time, she gave James his counting lesson.

As she whipped off her apron, she closed her eyes and breathed in the smell of the good sea stew. All afternoon it would simmer and fill the air with its fragrance.




Everything about this story, from the words to the pictures is cozy and homey and good.