Introduction

The story I read was A Journey to the New World: The Diary of Remember Patience Whipple by Kathryn Lasky. It is a historical novel with many surprises. In the following pages you will see just how wonderful this books really is!

Summary

This book is about a young girl named Remember Patience Whipple who is a twelve-year-old English girl who traveled on the Mayflower in 1620. She was a member of the Saints of the Holy Discipline and had to leave England because this religious group did not believe in the same religion as the king of England. Remember goes through many hard times on the Mayflower, including one of her best friends, Will, dying. She faces other hardships, one of them being when her best friend Hummy Sawyer must go back to England with her father. Remember’s mother dies, along with many other people that were on the Mayflower. Her people struggle during the winter because they do not have the necessary supplies they need to cook and farm. The English come across a few tribes of Indians, or Native Americans, that teach these foreigners how to grow many new foods. They also show them new crafts and how to have fun. Together, the English and the Indians have a large feast, which today we call Thanksgiving.

Software: Microsoft Office

Setting & Characters

The setting of this story is on the Mayflower in the year 1620, sailing from England to America.

The protagonist in this story is Remember Patience Whipple. She is a twelve- year- old English girl who travels from her home in England to America on the Mayflower in the year 1620. She and her family must travel to America because of her religion. Remember faces many hardships, but she also learns many new and exciting things from the people around her, and her new surroundings in America. With her family, friends, and best friend, Hummy Sawyer, Remember does not feel like she is alone in this strange, new world.

One of the more important supporting characters in this story is Remember’s best friend named Hummy Sawyer. She is also a twelve-year-old English girl who shares similar interests with Remember. Hummy is not on board the Mayflower because of her religion, but to escape all the awful memories of her mother’s death. Hummy and Remember go through many hard and joyful times together, until Hummy must leave America with her father to go back to England.

About the Author

Kathryn Lasky was born and grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana. When she was in school she was labeled a “reluctant reader”. She liked books, however, she did not like the books she had to read at school. She loved books like Peter Pan and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It was stories like these that led Ms. Lasky to think up her own stories.

Ms. Lasky’s interests as a writer range far and wide. To do research for her non-fiction books, she’s been everywhere from a sheep-shearing farm, to a doll maker’s workshop, to a small sailboat crossing the Atlantic Ocean, to an archaeological dig in South Dakota. She likes writing fiction too, because she can focus on the characters. She wants young readers to come away with a sense of joy about life, and she wants to draw them into a world where they are really going to connect with the characters.

Kathryn Lasky says that whatever she is writing, fiction or nonfiction, the most important thing is if a story is real. Even in her nonfiction stories, she says telling a story is more important than reciting the facts. She says, “The whole point of being an artist is to get up every morning and reinvent the world.”

Other books written by Kathryn Lasky include, Dollmaker: The Eyelight and the Shadow, The Night Journey, The Weaver’s Gift, Jem’s Island, and First Painter.

Book Review

This was an excellent story. It was realistic, exciting, sad, and joyful.

This story was very realistic. It felt as if I was reading an actual diary! The characters were so well developed it felt as if I had known them forever. This story was also exciting because many new things happened to the protagonist, Remember. She has many new adventures and encounters Indians. "At last I have seen an Indian! I have touched his hand. I have filled my eyes with the amber gold of his skin!“ She also must learn how to survive in her new home of America. Although this story was sad, with many deaths occurring, it was also a joyful story. Remember receives a new baby brother and makes lots of new friends. I loved this book!