Nautilus

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Pages: 78

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About this book

A river wharf gives the boy John room to imagine the sea he longs to hear. He turns a drifting log into a stranded ship and invents a rescue, then watches a white schooner emerge from the evening fog. Its strange figure on deck seems almost supernatural to him. At home, his shell and china dog offer small comforts under the stern rule of Mr. Endymion Scraper.

Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards builds this children's adventure around an orphan's hopes and the adults who hold power over his future. In a conversation with the Skipper, Mr. Bill Hen explains John's family history and suspects that Scraper wants control of the child's property. His account brings a sharper concern beneath the opening's play and wonder. Readers interested in sea stories can find a child's vivid imagination alongside questions of guardianship, kindness and the courage to challenge an intimidating neighbour.

About the author

Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards

Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards (1850-1943) was an American writer who produced more than ninety books, most of them for young readers. The daughter of Julia Ward Howe and the reformer Samuel Gridley Howe, she grew up in Boston and settled in Gardiner, Maine, where she wrote steadily for six decades.