Product Description

Life as a ship's boy aboard HMS Dolphin is a dream come true for Jacky Faber. Gone are the days of scavenging for food and fighting for survival on the streets of eighteenth-century London. Instead, Jacky is becoming a skilled and respected sailor as the crew pursues pirates on the high seas. There's only one problem: Jacky is a girl. And she must use every bit of her spirit, wit, and courage to keep the crew from discovering her secret.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22266 in Books
• Published on: 2004-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780152050856
• Condition: USED - VERY GOOD
• Notes:
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
"I prays for deliverance," confides Mary Faber, orphaned at eight years old by a pestilence that relegates her to a life of begging and petty crime on the streets of London. After her gang's leader is killed, she dons his clothing, trading in the name Mary for Jack, and takes to the high seas aboard the HMS Dolphin. Meyer evokes life in the 18th-century Royal Navy with Dickensian flair. He seamlessly weaves into Jacky's first-person account a wealth of historical and nautical detail at a time when pirates terrorized the oceans. Interspersed are humorous asides about her ongoing struggle to maintain "The Deception" (she fashions herself a codpiece and emulates the "shake-and-wiggle action" of the other boys when pretending to use the head, for instance), she earns her titular nickname in a clash with pirates and survives a brief stretch as a castaway before her true identity is discovered (the book ends as she's about to be shipped off to a school for young ladies in Boston). The narrative's dialect occasionally falters, but this detracts only slightly from the descriptive prose ("He's got muscles like a horse and looks to have a brain to match") and not at all from the engine driving this sprawling yarn: the spirited heroine's wholly engaging voice. Her budding sexuality (which leads to a somewhat flawed plotline involving a secret shipboard romance) and a near-rape by a seaman mark this one for older readers, who will find the salty tale a rattling good read. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 6-8-With the plague running rampant in London in 1797, Mary's parents and sister are soon counted among the dead. Left alone and penniless, the eight-year-old is taken in by a gang of orphans and learns survival skills. However, when their leader is killed, Mary decides to try her luck elsewhere. She strips the dead body, cuts her hair, renames herself Jack Faber, and is soon employed as a ship's boy on the HMS Dolphin. When the vessel sees its first skirmish with a pirate ship, her bravery saves her friend Jaimy and earns her the nickname "Bloody Jack." Told by Mary/Jack in an uneven dialect that sometimes doesn't ring true, the story weaves details of life aboard the Dolphin. Readers see how she changes her disguise based on her own physical changes and handles the "call of nature," her first experiences with maturation, and the dangers to boys from unscrupulous crew members. The protagonist's vocabulary, her appearance and demeanor, and her desire to be one of the boys and do everything they do without complaint complete the deception. This story also shows a welcome slant to this genre with an honorable, albeit strict Captain, and ship's mates who are willing and able teachers. If readers are looking for a rousing, swashbuckling tale of pirates and adventures on the high seas, this title falls short. However, it is a good story of a brave ship's "boy" with natural leadership abilities and a sense of fair play and humanity.
Kit Vaughan, Chesterfield County Public Schools, VA
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Gr. 6-9. At the age of 12 or so, Mary lives by her wits, begging and stealing on the streets of London, and sleeps under Blackfriars Bridge with a small gang of orphans. When her friend Charlie is murdered, she dons his clothes, calls herself Jacky Faber, and signs on as a ship's boy on the Dolphin, a Royal Navy frigate. In addition to dealing with the challenges of learning how to do her job and stay out of trouble, she must hide her gender while dealing with unexpected changes in her body and her emotions. When she falls in love with one of her shipmates and reveals her secret to him, the two of them have even more to hide. From shooting a pirate in battle to foiling a shipmate's sexual attack to surviving when stranded alone on a Caribbean island, the action in Jacky's tale will entertain readers with a taste for adventure. Phrases from old ballads echo through the text as well as some of the chapter headings, adding to the period feel of the telling. A first novel with a strong voice that is also a memorable piece of historical fiction. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Curious adventures, indeed
The Jacky of the title was born Mary Faber, whose life turned upside down when a pestilence in 1797 left her orphaned and homeless. She turned to the streets, surviving for a few years by begging, brawling and occasionally stealing on the dirty streets of London. But she lost her taste for that life when her best mate was "done for" by a vile city graverobber, and with few options remaining she hacked away her hair, changed her name, lied about her age and secured a post as a ship's boy on HMS Dolphin.

It's not an adventure-a-minute kind of book, nor will you see Jacky single-handedly besting entire pirate crews with her little knife. The book has a stronger sense of reality to it than that; Jacky has adventures, yes, but author L.A. Meyer never makes the mistake of making her superhuman. She makes mistakes, she runs afoul of bad circumstances, she feels fear. The dangers that threaten are very real, and the tone of the book sometimes is very dark. But through it all, she remains a plucky, cheerful girl, bouncing quickly back from misfortune, who loves to eat, dance and feel the wind in her face.

Bloody Jack is a a rollicking good time, a colorful yarn with a lively protagonist and a boatload of action. Once begun, the book is difficult to put down; once completed, it's hard not to leap immediately into the next in the series.

Fabulous seagoing adventure story
Bloody Jack is, without any doubt, the best kid's book I've read since the last Harry Potter. In fact, it holds its own with Harry. It is told by its heroine - a 12 year old girl named Mary Faber who was abandonned on the streets of early 19th century London when her parents died of fever. She tells how she was taken in by a street gang where she gets tough and street wise for five years. At the start of the book, the gang leader is killed. She figures her chances are better as a boy so she cuts off her hair, changes her name to Jacky, and makes her way to the docks where she talks her way on board a British Navy vessel because she can read.

She is one of six cabin boys - mostly street kids who are thrilled to have a chance to eat regularly. They can't believe their luck to be paid as well. During their three year voyage - a mission to chase down pirates, they learn to climb rigging, work as powder monkeys in sea battles with pirates, do all kinds of work on deck and hope to improve their lot by becoming able-bodied seamen and regular members of the crew.

At the same, Jacky has to figure out how to keep her secret while her breasts are developing and she starts her period. She also develops a serious crush on the oldest of the cabin boys - a quiet lad who is the younger son of a real family.

In the process she has all kinds of adventures. The crew battles pirates. (She gets her nickname from shooting a pirate during a battle.) The boys have to learn to handle the discipline of the British Navy where they are junior to everyone including the 14 year old midshipmen - one of whom is a complete bully. They get shore leave in exotic ports like Jamaica. Their conversations about religion and education as they puzzle out the ways of the world are hilariously funny.

Jacky has to use all her ingenuity to keep her secret and survive on board ship. She is courageous, smart, strong and a natural born leader. And she has a sharp, funny voice of her own that tells the story in the manner of a girl who has learned to express herself from London street talk, ballads, newspapers and cheap novels.

One of the best aspects of the book is its portrayal of an adventurous girl who likes being a girl - not a girl who has always wanted to be a boy. There are too many stories where femininity is a synonym for weakness and the girl prevails by adopting male behavior. Not this one.

Jacky acts like herself and - because everyone THINKS she's a boy, they simply deal with it. She likes to sew and decides to make herself a uniform when she starts growing out of her clothes. Do the officers and crew think she is a weak sissy? Nope. Sailors had to sew. The captain issues her more fabric and gives her the job of outfitting the rest of the cabin boys.

In one of the battles, the ship takes a cannon shot that blasts a hole in the side of the vessel. The whole crew is put to manning the pumps. Jacky simply doesn't have the strength to manage. Is this a problem? Nope. Some boys are smaller than others, so they send her up to the top of the rigging because she is smaller and lighter and can get a better view farther up.

In fact, there is no problem with her being a girl - until they discover she is a girl. This is a subtly political point which Meyer makes over and over again - but without preaching or politics. Instead he has created a brilliant character and put her in a hugely entertaining tale and lets the story speak for itself.

This is a fabulous book. Don't start it late at night. You won't want to put it down until you are finished.

One terrific swashbuckler! One amazing Ship's Girl!
I'm not normally a reader of sea stories, though I have read a few. All that technical ship information about mizzens, and fo'c's'les, and spankers, and such caused my eyes to blur and my head to hurt; however, not so in this wonderful novel. I can easily follow her duties around the HMS Dolphin and her simple explanations about the ship's rigging. Jacky is a dear girl and her daily observations about life on land and aboard the HMS Dolphin and her "Deception" are informative, entertaining, and humorous. She's a gutsy young woman who somehow survives the many scrapes and dangerous situations she manages to get herself into. While Jacky is tough on the outside, she is still all girl on the inside, which makes her also tender when she needs to be. She's loyal to her mates and cheerful no matter what. We share in her love of life and cheer her on. We also feel her sadness...as when, after having fallen deeply in love with Jaime, she is separated from him at the end. I'm sure this part brought a tear to many a reader's eye. I'm currently reading book two: CURSE OF THE BLUE TATTOO. It's even more packed with misadventures than the first book. Keep writng Mr. Meyer! I can't get enough of Jacky Faber.