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On the Mayflower: Voyage of the Ship's Apprentice & a Passenger Girl

kate waters russ kendall

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Filled with full-color photographs of the Mayflower II, a thrilling story follows the adventures of William Small and Ellen Moore as they travel from England to America without their families.

40 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1996

This edition

Format
40 pages, Paperback
Published
October 1, 1999 by Scholastic Paperbacks
ISBN
9780439099417
ASIN
0439099412
Language
English

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About the author

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kate waters

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Author Kate Waters went on to earn a B.A. from Newtown College of the Sacred Heart (Boston College) and a M.L.S. from Simmons' Graduate School of Library and Information Science. She grew up in a big family in which storytelling was very important. She worked as a librarian for ten years at the Boston Public Library. There she became very interested in telling stories to young people and finding out what they enjoyed reading. She moved to New York where she worked on a children's magazine. While working at the magazine, she started to think about new ways to present history and traditions to children. Her books include pictures of actors depicting the stories Kate writes. In addition, her books have been praised for their content and have won many awards. Kate currently lives in New York City.

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Community Reviews

Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 16 votes)
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16 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
xMiki-chan
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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This book chronicles the journey of two children coming from England to America. It is a great book to use when discussing the conditions aboard the Mayflower as the Pilgrims were making their journey. The students can compare and contrast the children's different experiences, one above deck and one below deck.
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Profile Image for Kimberly .
Pinea_Comosus
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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This is the fourth in a series of unusual historical-reenactment stories by Kate Waters. Each is a simple, fictional narrative told from the first-person perspective. They're illustrated with photographs of reenactors in period costumes, on the site of a historical restoration. This story takes place on the Mayflower II, a reproduction of the original merchant ship.

When I first encountered these stories, I frankly didn't love them. The lighting in the photographs could be improved, and while the text reflects the flavor of 17th-century English, the story quality isn't incredible. However, the great feature of this story is its carefully-researched setting and costumes. Many scenes evoke the feeling of actually being there. The Pilgrims shivering in the 'tween decks make the reader feel cold and scratchy, and the sight of a boy caulking storm-wrought leaks in the dark hold gives a sense of the dread those leaks inspired. If you're not able to actually visit the real Plimoth Plantation, this is the next best thing. It's a really nice supplement to a study of the Pilgrims.
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lithraal
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Similar to Waters's other Plimoth Plantation books (Sarah Morton's Day: A Day In The Life Of A Pilgrim Girl, Samuel Eaton's Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy, Tapenum's Day: A Wampanoag Indian Boy In Pilgrim Times:). The book is greatly enhanced by the back matter, which gives technical details of the ship, what happened in history, biographical information about the historical figures (and the invented character), and about the children who appear in the photographs.
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Zepherlix
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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1. Awards received: none

2. Appropriate grade level: 2nd Grade

3. Original Summary: It is the Fall of 1620 and the Mayflower is making its way across the Atlantic Ocean. Join William Small, the ship's apprentice, as he helps Christopher Jones, the master of the ship, sail the Mayflower. Along the way William befriends Ellen Moore, a passenger girl traveling on the Mayflower to the English colonies.

4. Original Review: The use of photographs of interpreters and the reconstructed Mayflower II catapults the reader into 1620. I found some of the language to be difficult but there is a glossary in the back of the book with helpful definitions for some of the harder/period terms. Overall, this book is a simple representation of life on the Mayflower with a mixture of real and fictional characters.

5. Possible in class uses: This book can be used to introduce some new vocabulary for 2nd Grade students: dire, douse, fair, fearsome, fetch, hammock, hatch, rank, stench, etc.

This book could also be used to show what life was like for the early settlers from England. The photos capture what the settlers wore, what they did in their freetime, what kinds of food they ate, and what sort of technologies they had.
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Profile Image for Kimberly .
Fan2207
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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This book had alot of high level maritime vocabulary, which would be great to build on. The photos of real people add a sense of realism that students may be more apt to connect to.
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Profile Image for Kimberly .
Luru86
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood.amaziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing. coooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool.
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RafaVS
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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On the Mayflower: Voyage of the Ship’s Apprentice & a Passenger Girl is a historical fiction book written by Kate Waters. This book is about the Mayflower, a boat, leaving England and coming to America. This is a great educational book for children from ages 5 to 8 years. The illustrations in the book are real or look real pictures of on the boat. This was a very important event through history and it is important for children to know what went on in their life before they were born and where they may have come from. This book has a great theme and plot. The theme of the book is the Mayflower and coming to America. The illustrations in this book were great and I liked that they were real pictures or at least looked real. I thought the actually content of the book could be a little more interesting; it was a tad bit boring. This is a great educational book great for school and great for history class.
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gbenz
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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A fitting addition to Kate Waters' series on Plimouth Plantation, "On the Mayflower" takes a slightly different approach.

The subtitle: Voyage of a Ship's Apprentice & a Passenger Girl provides a brief glimpse into this alternate view of the Pilgrims. William Small, the Ship's Apprentice, who serves as narrator is a fictional character. The Passenger Girl, Ellen Moore, age 8 (but played by a 10 year old) was on the ship, though there is no record of her in the colony, indicating she probably died on ship or during the long, hard, winter.

As such, this book is more a biography of the Mayflower itself than the individual people. Since so little is known the voyage, the text focus' on the duties of William Small as Ship's Apprentice, the construction of the Mayflower, the duties of Ellen as Passenger Girl, the horrible autumn storm that pushed them off course, and the fictional friendship between the two young people.

End notes include a brief history of the Mayflower, a rendering of what she may have looked like (with labeling of her decks, sails, etc), as well as an overview of the Mayflower II which is part of the Plimouth Plantation museum. A brief explanation of why the voyage was so difficult, and the storm patterns of the Atlantic is followed by brief biographies of the Mayflower's Master (Christopher Jones), the construction of William Small, Ellen Moore and the actors who interpreted William and Ellen for the publication.

I love the straight forward summary of the Pilgrim's experience from a child's perspective, both the good and the bad, that forms this excellent series. It is cherished in our home school. I highly recommend it.
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