Captains Courageous
Recommended. Age: 12+. A Catholic review of this book for parents.
Our review
Harvey is a spoiled rich boy who falls off a big ship into the sea. A fishing boat saves him, and the captain makes him work for his keep. Harvey learns to fish, to obey and to be a good shipmate. He goes home a better boy. This is a clean, sturdy story about how honest work and fair authority cure a spoiled child. Harvey learns to earn his place and to be thankful for it. Catholic educators assign it in the middle grades. The content cells are blank because the usual content logs do not cover it. Parents should know about the heavy dialect and a racial slur reported by one reader.
For parents
Read aloud from about ten. Independent reading from twelve or thirteen, because the sailors speak in thick dialect and the sea terms are many. A reader site sets it at ages 9 to 12. Ask: what is Harvey like on the liner? Why does the captain refuse to believe him, and was the captain fair? What does Harvey learn from doing a full day of work? How does he treat Dan and Manuel at the end? This is a good book for talking about the Fourth Commandment and respect for just authority, and about the dignity of work. Note that the captain strikes Harvey early in the story. Say that this is how the book's world works and not how we correct people. A Goodreads reviewer reports the N-word twice, used of the ship's cook. Say plainly that we do not use that word and that every person is made in the image of God. A crewman has drowned before Harvey arrives, and the fishermen's memorial late in the book is sad. Harvey has cigarettes at the start and the captain warns him off smoking and liquor.