2012-29 - The Wreck of the Zanzibar, by Michael Morpurgo

29 - The Wreck of the Zanzibar, by Michael Morpurgo, 101 pages,Egmont Books, 1995

WHY I PICKED IT: Recommended by my niece Sahar
ELAPSED TIME: <1 hour
RATING: Good

 

Michael is reading a diary left to him by his Aunt Laura.  In 1907 her twin brother ran away to sea.  Laura relates the story from her own perspective: of being a girl on an island who is not even allowed to row out to the ships, of food scarcity where one meal a day is all that can be hoped for.  And Laura continues to fight against that: to earn the right to row, to save a turtle despite that being obvious food.

This is a very good children's book.  My only concern about the choice of words is when her brother tells her of the places he's been: "America, Ireland, France, Spain, Africa even."  Is it that he's referring to countries within Europe and continents elsewhere, or is Morpurgo referring to the USA as America (as the Europeans are wont to do), and referring to Africa with the broad colonialist brush?  I fear it is the latter.