The young reader will get a sense of the history by Bulla's account of a family journey from the old world to the new world. Father has gone ahead to the colonies mother and the children are working and saving to make their way. Unfortunately mother passes away and the children become indentured. A kindly doctor stands up for them and soon they are at sea. Sadly the doctor's oceanic interest soon sweep him overboard. In the end the children are reunited with their father. What ties the story all together is the lion on a brass door knocker.

While this YA book is not of the caliber of David Almond or Robert Westall, it was worth the read. It is a simply written fictionalized account of three English children who, because their mother died, went to sea in the hope of locating their father who had previously traveled to the newly settled colony of Jamestown.

While aboard the voyage of the Sea Adventure in 1609, the ship heading for Jamestown was storm tossed and wrecked in Bermuda.

Interestingly, the actual shipwreck was the inspiration for Shakespeare's final play The Tempest. Miraculously all members of the Sea Adventure were saved, spent nine months on Bermuda, built two ships and then sailed to Jamestown.

When arriving in Jamestown, they found that only a small band of people survived the harsh conditions of rugged Virginia.

With only a small trinket to guide them -- a door knocker in the shape of a lion previously given to them by their father -- the children clung to the hope of finding him and a new life of promise. ( )

$3.99

This one's a fictionalized account of the last voyage of the Sea Adventure in 1609. When enroute to the Jamestown colony, it was separated from it's fleet by a storm and ran aground in Bermuda. No lives were lost, but everybody had to spend nine months on the island while they waited for help and eventually built two ships to carry them on to Virginia. The account of the storm and the shipwreck was Shakespeare's inspiration for The Tempest. This story, however, is much shorter. It tells of three children, whose father has gone off to Jamestown to build a new home for the family. Unfortunately, their mother gets ill and dies and the three children face the challenge of either settling down to a life of servitude and poverty or making an ambitious journey across the ocean. It's a simplistic tale, being written for children and all, but an enjoyable one as well. Check it out.
--J. ( )