Name: Spreading the Feast Gathering
Start: 2025-07-11T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-07-12T23:59:59-05:00
Location: LaGrange, KY

Tagged: geography, History, Sailing Alone Around the World substitute, Stowaway

This topic has 6 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 11 months ago by kbtighe.

Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

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June 22, 2016 at 7:41 pm
kbtighe
Participant
Hi Everyone!
We’ve just started Early Modern history and are struggling with Sailing Alone Around the World. We just don’t know enough of the terms and are finding ourselves really dragging with it and a bit confused. Can anyone recommend a good substitute book to read aloud for geography instead?
Thanks!
Rebecca

June 22, 2016 at 8:28 pm
amama5
Participant
I actually had the same question years ago, and I still don’t really care for the book, I sold it. Here are the responses I got to my post (not sure how to link it right now:)

Don’t know the book – but if you want a good geography book with sailing, I reccommend Seabird by Holling C. Holling.
My son (7) loved it.
Another book we did for geography (very light on it) was 33 Multicultural Tales to Tell. It has a folk story from various places. We’d read the story, and look at a map and find the place it was from. It wasn’t a geography book per-se, but my kids did learn a lot about geography looking up the places.

There are other good Holling C Holling books that are great for portions of the U.S. geography. We read Paddle to the Sea last year – my son loved that one too. It is around the Great Lake Region (which was nice for us in Canada) – and there is Tree in the Trail and Minn of the Mississippi that we are planning to read in the future.

We are finishing up module 5 this month, and we’ve been reading “Stowaway” by Karen Hesse. We tried “Sailing Alone….” for a bit at the beginning of the year and it wasn’t working well for us. It simply did not hold the interest of any of the kids (10yo, 11yo, 12yo) and, I have to admit, I had a hard time loving it.

“Stowaway” is written as a journal of Nicholas Young, age 11, who runs away from his apprenticeship with a butcher in London in 1768 and stows away on Captain James Cook’s ship, the H.M.S. Endeavour. It is based on research into Captain Cook’s first voyage to discover new land for the King of England. The journey takes them along the eastern coast of South America, around Cape Horn, and on to New Zealand and Australia. It is an enjoyable read, and the journal entries often include latitudinal and longitudinal readings. The author gives a note that tells how to adjust these readings to reflect how longitude is recorded in modern times so the reader may locate and track the ship’s route on a map. It’s fascinating and fun.
suzukimom: Wow that sounds like a great book, and would make a fantastic Google Lit Trip.
June 23, 2016 at 6:44 am
kbtighe
Participant
This is VERY helpful. Thank you for taking the time to post from your responses!
Blessings,
Rebecca

June 23, 2016 at 8:37 am
Sue
Participant
I would second the recommendation of Stowaway. We wanted to love Sailing Alone Around the World, but it didn’t happen, so we switched to Stowaway. A much better fit for us. My kids were about 10 through 12 at the time.
June 23, 2016 at 10:20 am
tulip
Participant
Our family enjoyed Sailing Alone Around the World, but I was reading it to older kids as well as little ones. I do remember it being slow in the beginning and that we were not familiar with all the terminology. I was glad we pushed through and finished. He was a remarkable man!
There is a picture book (biography) called Born in the Breezes: The Voyages of Joshua Slocum by Kathryn Lasky. It is a great resource as well. The illustrations are excellent. I would definitely read that one if I only had younger children. Amazon has it used for $4 including shipping.

June 24, 2016 at 9:55 am
amama5
Participant
I also agree that Stowaway is better for older children. For my younger children, we use “Families of..” videos from the library for whatever country we are studying. They really enjoy those. They also like looking at the Hungry Planet, or Material World books, and the optional books from Visits To..
June 24, 2016 at 10:59 am
kbtighe
Participant
Ladies this is great information! Thank you for your time. I think we’ll try Stowaway for my older ones, and if my younger ones can’t keep up, I’ll look into some of the other ones.
Blessings!