Cast Off: The strange adventures of Petra de Winter and Bram Broen by Eve Yohalem.

1663. Twelve year old Petra de Winter has stowed away on The Golden Lion, a Dutch merchant ship in the harbor of Amsterdam. She is determined to escape her abusive father, but as the ship leaves harbor on its way to the Cape of Good Hope and thence on to the East indies, Petra realizes that she cannot remain hidden on her own. It’s up to Bram Broen, son of the ship’s carpenter, half Dutch and Half Javanese, to show Petra how she can manage to evade capture and survive the coming months at sea.

It’s obvious that Ms. Yohalem did her research for this sea-faring adventure novel. Indeed, she says in the author’s note at the end of the book that her corollary to the old adage that an author should write what she knows is that “it’s okay to write what you don’t know; just make sure you do a lot of research.” She goes on to write, “Details about housekeeping, clothing, decor, Dutch fastidiousness, . . . food and medicine are all authentic. Whether the streets were brick or dirt, the ten p.m. curfew—all true in 1600’s Amsterdam.” And as far as I can tell, she goes on to get the nautical details right, too. The ship and its crew and the battle scene (yes, there’s a battle with pirates!) and all medical jargon felt right and was worked into the story in such an interesting and intriguing manner that I forgot I was getting a history lesson as I read.

The story is told in alternating voices, first by Petra, and then by Bram. There are class differences between the two children, as well as the obvious gender and cultural differences. Petra is the daughter of a wealthy merchant, but she’s developed a tough enduring spirit as a result of the abuse she has suffered from her father. Bram grew up barefoot and free on the island of Java, and then after his mother died, he became his father’s assistant on the ship, unable to leave the ship anywhere in Europe because of his mixed-race status. It takes time and work for the two to become friends and allies, but they do come to understand and support each other.

The ending was a little abrupt. Maybe the author intended to leave room for a sequel? If so, I’ll be interested to find out what happens to Petra and to Broem next. If not, I wish them well in their new life.

Last week was the week of World War 2 historical fiction and nonfiction. This week I think we’ll be taking a journey back to seventeenth century Europe. Some time this week, I’ll try to suggest some books that I’ve read in the past that take place in 1600’s Europe. Do you have any favorites from that time period?

What if I’m an atheist: a teen’s guide to exploring life without religion by David Seidman.

“A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off in your face. It is one of the few havens remaining where a man’s mind can get both provocation and privacy.” ~Edward P. Morgan

While I think atheism is a “fragile idea” and not finally intellectually viable, it is an idea that many of us feel obligated to explore at one time or another. Mr. Seidman gives teenage atheists and agnostics the support and encouragement they might need to explore the idea of living without belief in God or religion in a 192 page book. He also encourages teens who are drawn to the idea of becoming a nonbeliever to be confident but kind, to stand up for their own beliefs without denigrating those who believe in some kind of religious dogma, and to be open to the possibility that their own beliefs may change as they grow older.

Mr. Seidman uses lots of quotes from actual teen atheists, mostly from internet forums and blog sites, as well as quotes from Christian apologists and others who have weighed in on what it means to be an atheist. Some of those who are quoted are bitter, harsh, and judgmental, but the tone of the book is not. He tells stories about teens who have been persecuted for their stand against religion and about teens who have faced difficult relationship breakdowns with family and friends. He gives some basic information on how to answer common questions from an atheistic point of view, and the answers are generally logical and respectful to a religious point of view, if not entirely complete or convincing. There’s even a chapter that gives advice on what to do if you find yourself returning to belief in religion after a period of atheism, although disappointingly the re-conversion stories mostly feature emotional leaps of faith rather than intellectual and spiritual journeys to faith.

On Goodreads, the author information about Mr. Seidman says, “David Seidman is a Los Angeles–area journalist, editor, and author who often writes nonfiction for teens. He comes to the topic of atheism with empathy for teenagers and for people in the religious minority, but he’s nobody’s advocate.” I don’t know if the author is an atheist himself, or a freethinker, or a born again Christian. The book itself is emphatically NOT an apologetic for Christianity or for atheism, but it does provide that “safe place” for exploration. And it lists some resources—books, websites, radio, TV, in-person meeting places, even college scholarships for atheists—where teens can get more information.

The Psalmist in Psalm 14:1 writes, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.'” I agree with that assessment of atheism. However, who among us has not played the fool at one time or another in our lives? And what does the “fool” need? Wisdom, of course. We don’t get that from arguments or harsh or mocking words, but maybe if someone were to walk along alongside, listen, and love us, it would open our eyes to God’s love and God’s wisdom. This book, although it’s not at all Christian, could be a start on that journey or an encouragement for anyone who decides to remain on the road of life without God.

“John Roy Lynch had an Irish father and an enslaved mother. By the law of the South before the Civil War, that made John Roy and his brother half Irish and all slave.”

John Roy Lynch was a field slave who became a photographer, then Justice of the Peace, then Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives, and then a U.S. Representative. His climb from slavery to Congress is chronicled in Chris Barton’s book, The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch.

Reconstruction (and the Gilded Age that followed it) are a rather neglected time period in American history for children, especially as it pertains to books set in the South. I have two shelves of books on the Civil War in my library, where the books, historical fiction and nonfiction, are shelved in chronological order. Between 1866 and the beginning of the twentieth century, I do have a shelf full of books, but none of them are set in the South. Most of the books that have to do with that time period are all about prairie settlers, cowboys, and heading west. Even the textbooks dance past Reconstruction with a little information about Andrew Johnson’s impeachment and black codes and then take a sharp turn immediately westward.

Mr. Barton’s picture book biography of one of the first black men to serve as a Representative to the U.S. House of Representatives, from the great state of Mississippi, fills a hole in the living history books available to children and fills it well. The text is simple, but honest, and it doesn’t gloss over the fact that the Klan was active and the Civil War was not really over in a sense during the time that John Roy Lynch served as a U.S. Representative. The basic information about the difficulties of slavery and its aftermath, terrorism and persecution for black people, is conveyed in story form, making those facts both more horrible (these things happened to real people!) and more understandable and even hopeful (brave and intelligent people tried to make things better) at the same time.

John Roy Lynch himself is an inspiring and admirable character. He pursued an education in his “spare time” and taught himself by eavesdropping on a school across the alleyway. He became a photographer by way of on-the-job training. He taught himself the law so that he could be a just Justice of the Peace. He became a landowner, and then a public servant in the state legislature, then in the U.S. House. And he did all of these things while he was still in his twenties.

Although Congressman Lynch was defeated for re-election in 1876 as Reconstruction came to a close and the South returned to a new era of black subjugation and disenfranchisement, his words continued to inspire, and he “continued to believe that the laws of this land could bring about justice.”

“When every man, woman, and child can feel that his, her, and their rights are fully protected by the strong arm of a generous and grateful Republic, then we can all truthfully say that this beautiful land of ours, over which the Star Spangled Banner so triumphantly waves, is, in truth and in fact, the ‘land of the free and the home of the brave.'” ~John Roy Lynch, 1874