The Night Ship

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Mayken crawls forward and puts her palm next to his, flat against the planks. She sees how much smaller and cleaner her hand is. Too clean for a cabin boy. But John Pinten doesn’t seem to notice. She feels a soft touch on her arm. The grown daughter is saying something earnest about mothers and angels. Both children are nine when their mothers die. Other than that and a relic that once belonged to Mayken that is found and treasured by Gil, there's not a lot that connects them. I kept waiting for some amazing connection, some revelation, but it never came.

Magical realism and folklore at its finest. It doesn’t always work for me but was done exceptionally well. anything 3 star and above is still a positive review. I consider a three star review to be more of a positive-neutral review. BNBook Club Jess Kidd discusses SCATTERED SHOWERS with Miwa Messer and Shannon DeVito - video – 41:28 – forget the title – they talk about The Night Ship This reading group guide for The Night Ship includes an introduction, discussion questions, ideas for enhancing your book club, and a Q&A with author Jess Kidd. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book .The Night Ship" by Jess Kidd is a book with a gorgeous cover and a beautifully written story inside! Gil’s new life, like Mayken’s is one without many - if any - friends. Those they turn to tend to be adults who either try to make them see how it is ‘their fault’ - they are too different, too unusual, and not acceptable to be a friend, where others try to encourage them to not listen to ‘those’ people who would try to make them change. At sea, Imke mysteriously falls gravely ill and Mayken is convinced there is a mythical sea-monster on board who is responsible. She ventures high and low through the ship in her search to trap the villainous, Bullebak.

Overall, it was a really interesting book reading about the Batavia in fiction, but it just wasn’t for me. I just couldn’t wrap my head around it. Yes, the two protagonists in the story, Mayken and Gil, are connected despite being three centuries apart. Sometimes Gil imagines he hears the voice of the dead Dutch girl in the wind. He knows such things as ghosts don't exist. Not if their bones are treated with respect! Mayken's story went from grim to grimmer; whereas I always felt hope for Gil. He is lonely and bullied, his only friend a tortoise, but there is something about this boy that touched my heart.Both characters are riveting. Mayken is impish and fascinated with the world of the boat and the characters who inhabit it. Gil is awkward, lonely, a little weird, and terrified of the world. His only friend is a 900-year-old tortoise named Enkidu.

Pelgrom laughs. “When Imke dies, you can stay that way. We’ll shave your head and get you a beer ration.” Kidd has based her latest novel on the historical sinking of the BATAVIA off the west coast of Australia in 1629.The tragedy of the story is well-known, but the author has made it personal and human, adding descriptive passages that add to the experiences of the children. This one is the old sailor teaching Mayken. Q: You created such a varied cast of characters. Was there one character who was your favorite to write about? If so, why? Course you will.” Pelgrom pulls a cap onto her head and surveys her with satisfaction. “My, you are exactly a cabin boy! You must have a name.”

Mayken loves the sailors instantly. The daring of them, their speed along the ropes, the heights they climb to!” I was always relieved when the story moved to the 1989 setting, and I gritted my teeth at attempted to get through the 1629 parts.Unlike in her previous book, Things in Jars, which dealt very considerably with things fantastical, the unreality of the creatures May and Gil perceive is much more subtle. The creatures both claim to be real may or may not be. But both creatures serve admirably as metaphors for the awfulness of humanity.