Sailing Home: A Story of a Childhood at Sea

Sailing Home: A Story of a Childhood at Sea is based on the journal kept by Captain Madsen and his daughter Ena.  It is told by Gloria Rand and illustrated by Ted Rand.  The story is about the Madsen family and their life at sea.  The story describes the day to day lives of family as they sail around the world on their father’s ship.  Two of the children were born aboard the ship.  They had animals on the ship, played games on the ship, learned how to use signaling flags and name all the stars and planets, and even had a tutor on board the ship that taught them school six days a week, mornings and afternoons with an hour off for lunch.  The story ends with them riding out a really bad storm that lasted for days during Christmas.  At the end, it looks like the ship will go down and the family with it but the ship rights itself and they end with a big Christmas celebration.

Sailing Home: A Story of a Childhood at Sea is a great example of historical fiction.  According to the textbook, Literature and the Child, on page 17, it explains that historical fiction tells a story set in the past; it portrays events that did or could definitely occur.  It is made up of stories that take place in a certain time or place in the past.  Real historical figures and events can be included in the story, for instance, the Madsen family and the ship.  The illustrations in this book are a great example of ink drawings that are water colored to give them a realistic feel.  The attention to detail is shown in the drawings, even down to the labels on the books.  The facial expressions are very genuinely added to give the people a lifelike characteristic.

This book is recommended for ages 7 and up.  I would agree with that recommendation.  The story line, while exciting throughout, does get a little dramatic toward the end.  A child would definitely be able to handle that type of drama at this age. 

When presenting this book to your classroom, I would suggest adding the following activities:

1.  Using information from the story, explain how the activities the children participated in were similar to those of children living on land?

2.  Have the students do a timeline, sequencing the events in the story.

READER RESPONSE QUESTIONS:

1.  What do you think would be the most difficult part of living on a ship?
2.  Explain why the Christmas celebration described at the end of the story was so special.
3.  Do you think living on a ship is a good or bad thing?  Explain your answer.
4.  How would you feel if you had to go to school six days a week with no recess?

REFERENCES:

Galda, L., Cullinan, B. E., & Sipe, L. R. (2011). Literature and the child. (7th ed. ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth Pub Co.

Rand, G. (2001). Sailing home: A story of a childhood at sea. New York, NY: North-South Books Inc.