The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi

In the historical fiction and Newbery Honor book, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Charlotte makes the journey to America on a merchant sailing ship with no other passengers. As she soon discovers, there is tension between the captain and the crew. She gets involved in the ensuing drama, and her life is changed forever.

True Confessions explores how significant life events can alter the course of your life. When Charlotte boards the ship, she narrates "What could I do? All my life I had been trained to obey, educated to accept. I could hardly change in a moment" (p.17). Over the course of the two month journey, Charlotte does change. The events that transpire-- mutiny, deceit, murder, and chaos change her so that she is no longer "trained to obey, educated to accept."

While True Confessions takes place in the 19th century and chronicles the journey of a 12 year old girl, the book deals with stereotypes and prejudice in ways that modern children could understand and might understand more clearly because of the historical time period. As evidenced in the quotation above, Charlotte starts out as the stereotypical genteel young lady of the 19th century. She has no voice of her own, attempts to do what would please her father, and feels she must stay "above" the crew. Because of the situation where she finds herself, Charlotte fights against gender stereotyping. She learns to have her own voice, think for herself, and befriend individuals because of who they are, not their station in life. She also becomes friends with the only non-white, an African, on the ship. He meets with prejudice from other crew mates, and racism in the 19th century North is briefly mentioned. Charlotte comes to see that he is a true friend and that they have much in common.

To help the modern reader, Avi provides an appendix with definitions and diagrams to explain sailing terminology and parts of the ship. Descriptions of sailing and details like how time was kept added to the historical context of the book. The appendix was a necessary aid to help the reader understand the descriptions. I have not been drawn to historical fiction, but I will try to read more now that I've enjoyed The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.