Bloody Jack

Bloody Jack

By: L.A. Meyer

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company ©2002

ISBN#: 9780152050856

It all starts with “The Dark Day.” Mary Jacky Faber’s entire life is turned upside down when her family dies of the pestilence in 1797. She’s left to beg on the streets of London with a gang of orphans, but Jacky has dreams of something bigger—she wants to captain her own merchant ship. Bloody Jack is the thrilling tale of one girl’s mission to make her life better. Her adventures go from the grimy streets of London to disguising herself as a ships-boy on the HMS Dolphin. Jacky’s life is perfect as long as she can keep up “the deception” and avoid the hangman’s noose.

L.A. Meyer has created a thrilling tale that puts the reader on the streets of London in 1797. She writes with the heavy, street urchin dialect that adds authenticity to her story. “I runs and runs, just out of me head with terror, and I keeps on runnin’ till I starts heavin’ and gaspin’ and chokin’ and I can’t run no more and I falls down in an alley,…” (Meyer 2). This is even more apparent in the audio book reading by Katherine Kellgren. Moreover, the reader is faced with the glaring reality that the orphans are forced to beg or steal in order to survive, and sometimes that didn’t even save them.

This novel could be part of a book study on breaking gender roles. In a history class, this novel could be the starting point for a discussion about society in that time period. One of the major issues in the book is how many children were left to beg and survive on their own. This novel could also be used in a discussion of the time period when England ruled the seas.

Horn Book Magazine—“Jacky's diary reflects this language growth but always retains her strong, proud voice. The abrupt ending ties up the plot but hints at more adventures to come” (Carter).

Booklist—“Jacky is quickly becoming a respected ship’s boy aboard the HMS Dolphin but has a secret that she is struggling to keep from everyone onboard—she is not a boy. Katherine Kellgren’s cockney accent brings this rousing tale to life” (“Bloody Jack”).

Works Cited

"Bloody Jack." Booklist 104.13 (2008): 24. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 9 Nov. 2010.

Carter, Betty. "Bloody Jack." Horn Book Magazine 79.1 (2003): 81. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 9 Nov. 2010.

Meyer, L.A. Bloody Jack. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2002. 2. Print.