Review by Booklist Review
The daughter of a schooner captain in the early 1800s, Ellen Prentiss was just a girl when her father taught her the difficult technical skill of navigation, as well as sailing. After her marriage, Ellen navigated ships captained by her husband. When he was given command of a new clipper, the Flying Cloud, and the challenge of carrying cargo and passengers from New York City to the Gold Rush rose swiftly, Ellen navigated the ship through storms and other perils by drawing on experience, research, courage, and caution. In a picture book based on a true story, Fern takes as her heroine this unusual nineteenth-century woman and, in telling the tale, chooses metaphors ( her face turning white as whalebone ) from seafaring life of the period. McCully's precise ink drawings gracefully delineate the characters and settings, while the layers of paint create depth of color and nicely textured effects. A map showing the 1851 voyage of the Flying Cloud appears on the endpapers. A handsome picture book portraying an accomplished woman.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
McCully's (Mirette on the High Wire) signature ink-and-watercolor illustrations bring to vivid life this picture-book biography of sailor Eleanor Prentiss. Dynamic lines and soft hues realistically depict Prentiss's role as navigator aboard her husband's clipper ship, the Flying Cloud, in 1851. Its 15,000-mile maiden voyage around Cape Horn was "racing to get passengers and cargo to the Gold Rush." An anomaly for her time, Prentiss learned the sailing ropes from her ship-captain father. Fern (Barnum's Bones) lyrically paints a picture of the journey's ups and downs, during which Prentiss pushes the ship to its limits with her more scientific, risk-taking navigation style: "The masts creaked and groaned.... Soon every twist of rope and thread of canvas was stretched taut. 'Catch me if you dare!' Ellen shouted to the wind... the sea sparkling green and white around her." From storm-tossed gray-green oceans and the white-icy waters around South America's southern tip to the tilting navigation room belowdecks, the story evokes the daring trip in all its glory, and the many perspectives of the often-majestic scenes bring readers aboard. Ages 5-9. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-4-In the summer of 1851, the clipper Flying Cloud made the journey from New York City to San Francisco in a record-breaking 89 days and 21 hours despite several setbacks and dangers along the way. Much of the credit for that voyage goes to Ellen Prentiss Creesy, the ship's navigator. Based on the true story of that voyage, this book expertly describes Prentiss's early life, her love for the sea and the science of navigation, her marriage to Captain Perkins Creesy, and their remarkable accomplishment. Readers will find this fictionalized account gripping and inspiring. McCully's excellent watercolor illustrations include a number of period details and add a sense of movement and drama to the already exciting text. An author's note gives the factual background for the story, and a brief glossary serves to familiarize readers with nautical terms. This is a well-executed narrative on a topic that has not received much coverage since Armstrong Sperry's 1936 Newbery Honor book, All Sail Set: A Romance of the Flying Cloud (Winston, 1935).-Misti Tidman, Licking County Library, Newark, OH (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
In the early 1800s, young Ellen Prentiss (1814-1900) learned to be a keen and fearless sailor on her father's trading schooner. Captain Prentiss also taught Ellen a difficult skill most sailors, and even some captains, never learned: navigation, which she also mastered. She married Perkins Creesy, and the couple traveled the world's oceans as captain and navigator. When the Creesys were given command of a sleek new clipper ship, The Flying Cloud, to transport passengers from New York to the California Gold Rush, Ellen accepted the accompanying challenge to smash the record for shortest voyage around Cape Horn. With Ellen's aggressive tacks, daring but well-researched new routes, and knowledge that "a true navigator must have the caution to read the sea, as well as the courage to dare the wind," The Flying Cloud reached San Francisco in record time. Fern's lively, nautically infused text rolls with the waves, while McCully's ink and watercolor illustrations reflect the resplendent blues and greens of vast, changeable oceans. Spyglass-framed portraits of Ellen's lessons with her father, sailing with her husband, and working alone reflect how both men supported her unlikely profession and highlight her own confident, assured navigational decisions. This is a spirited and fascinating tale for landlubbers and sea-lovers alike. A glossary, titles for further reading, and author's note are appended, and a map of the voyage adorns the endpapers. pamela yosca(c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A lively, true story about a 19th-century woman and the 15,000-mile sailing journey she navigated. With animated language full of the vigor of the sea itself, Fern relates the story of Ellen Prentiss Creesy, who, while growing up in Marblehead, Mass., was taught to both sail and navigate by her sea-captain father. Later, Ellen accompanied her husband, also a sea captain, on many voyages as navigator. Ellen's husband was given command of the Flying Cloud, a clipper ship whose 1851 maiden voyage--from New York City around the tip of Cape Horn to San Francisco--aspired to bring passengers and cargo to the Gold Rush more quickly than had ever been done before. With Ellen as navigator, the Flying Cloud endured storms and doldrums to triumph in its record-setting voyage. McCully's expertly rendered watercolor illustrations evoke, in double-page spreads, the rich atmosphere of the sea in all its moods, while many events are shown as round vignettes--as though seen through a spyglass. Off-kilter horizon lines conjure up the motion of the ship at sea, and sailing-savvy readers will appreciate the accurate depiction of all things nautical. Endpapers showing the Flying Cloud's sailing route orient readers to the huge scope of the voyage. As stimulating as sea air itself, this story will surely send the salt water coursing through the veins of its readers. (author's note, glossary) (Picture book. 5-10)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
