Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Language:  Hell’s Bells is used frequently.  References to cursing are made like, “a mumbled curse followed.”  “He took in vain two of the three names of the Holy Trinity.”  “Son of a _____.”  Damn is used once.

Violence:  Lucky is hit across his back.  A sack is put over his head and secured with a rope.  He is abducted.  Fortuna hits Lucky and knocks him out.  Fortuna says, “Keep your foul mouth shut, if you don’t I’ll slit your throat.”  Lucky is often slapped backside of his head, pinched, kicked or grabbed by the ears.  A woman gets her arm caught in a machine and the bones are crushed.  Lucky fights Gaspar.  There is blood.  Lucky sees the scars on Daniel’s back from repeated whippings.  Lucky and Daniel knock Antone out and tie him up.  They take his pants off.  Fortuna slaps Daniel and then holds a knife to his neck.  Lucky, Daniel and Fortuna are tied up and held as prisoners.  Fortuna is hit over the head and knocked out.

Sexual Content:  Alcott had made improper advances and was rewarded with a quick slap.  It is said to love as many women as you can catch.

Adult Themes:  Slavery is a major theme of this book.  The transportation of slaves on boats and the abolitionists who held meetings and tried to help the slaves through the Underground Railroad were discussed.  The characters in the book worked manual labor in a factory which was much like slavery due to its poor working conditions.  Several different men use alcohol and tobacco.  Fortuna is emotionally and physically abusive.

Synopsis

Lucky is a sailor.  Most of his 14 years have been spent on a ship with his father.  The sea calls to him; it’s in his blood.  Now that his father is dead, Lucky is determined to join up with a new ship, The Nightbird, and start his own career as a sailor.  Fortuna has different ideas though.  He is Lucky’s half brother, and now guardian due to the death of their father.  He forces Lucky to stay with him and work in the factory.  Lucky plans and plots, trying to find a way to escape the factory and his no good brother and get onto a ship that will take him out of the country.  In seeking for help, Lucky finds a couple of friends.  These friends lead him to thinking and helping with things bigger than himself.

Lucky was such a scrappy, likeable character.  I was rooting for him from the very beginning.  This is a book that approaches some important subject matter in dealing with slavery.  It would be a good stepping stone into a deeper discussion with children about the struggles of the time period with slavery, the Underground Railroad and abolitionist work.  This was not a light hearted read, but it was a good adventure for young readers.  My favorite quote from the book was, “All the riches in the world won’t make you happy if you’ve got no anchor.”  This book is written with the middle-grade readers in mind (ages 9-12).  This book is set for a September release.  I read it courtesy of NetGalley.