The following unabridged reviews are made available under license from their respective rights holders and publishers. Reviews may be used for educational purposes consistent with the fair use doctrine in your jurisdiction, and may not be reproduced or repurposed without permission from the rights holders.

Note: This section may include reviews for related titles (e.g., same author, series, or related edition).

From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)

Sailing as the only passenger (and only female) from England to Rhode Island is the extraordinary position in which Charlotte Doyle finds herself in June of 1832. The voyage's inevitable disasters are foreshadowed from the moment she boards the ship. Charlotte's class identification with Captain Jaggery blinds her to his manipulation of her naive loyalty, and to his cruelty to the crew. Her eventual alliance with the mutinous crew is possible only after calamitous events which expose her to previously unthought of realities about herself and others. Written in the romantic style of a 19th century adventure story, this thrilling tale relentlessly commands attention from the beginning to an entirely satisfying and unexpected conclusion. Honor Book, 1990 CCBC Newbery Book Discussion. (Age 12 and older)

CCBC Choices 1990 © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 1990. Used with permission.

From Publisher's Weekly

March 30, 1992
In this crackling good yarn--a Newbery Honor book--a 13-year-old girl must extricate herself from a perilous position during an 1832 transatlantic voyage. Ages 12-up.

From AudioFile Magazine

In 1832 thirteen-year-old Charlotte Doyle is sailing from Liverpool to Rhode Island to rejoin her family. Shocked to discover that the families who were to have been both guardians and companions will not accompany her, Charlotte embarks on a journey filled with terror and swashbuckling adventure. The first-person narrative makes this Newbery Honor book a wonderful choice for recording. O'Karma's reading, with its hint of cross-gender differentiation, allows the listener to feel as if Charlotte Doyle herself were relating the tale. This story should be particularly alluring to adolescent girls although the fast-paced action and the nautical setting will also appeal to male listeners. Ages 12-adult. S.G. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine