Read Aloud--Carry on, Mr. Bowditch

We've now passed through the Revolutionary War and have move on to the early years of the United States of America in our read alouds.  Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham is a great story that traces the life of Nathaniel Bowditch, an early American mathematician and navigator.  Nat Bowditch was a smart boy who would have been able to go to Harvard, but after his mother died, the family couldn't afford it.  He was indentured to a ship tackle store.  Because he was "good with figures" he soon picked up astronomy, navigation and many other scholarly pursuits.  He went on to become a ship's navigator and eventually a captain.

The boys all really liked this one.  I liked that it focused on a boy who became successful because of his brains.  The book was filled with navigation, shipping and boat jargon, some of which the author explained and some not.  Ben said today that he was going to "turn in all standing."  That's when the shipmen went to bed in their clothes because they knew they would be up again soon to fight a storm.  It's fun when some thing like that from a book comes up again later in our conversations.  The only criticism that Ben had of it was that everyone died.  Nat's mom, grandma, sister, wife, brothers, and a lot of other people in the book died.  I told him though that people didn't live as long then as they do now.  And shipping was a very dangerous industry.  I liked that about the book.  It made it more authentic.