Customer Reviews

Bet: Stowaway Daughter

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Captivating story told in first-person narrative from the perspective of a 13-year-old girl in 1933 Seattle. The plot is well paced, the characters are realistic, and the nautical detail is amazing; Joe clearly knows what he's talking about! He manages to skillfully weave into the narrative and conversation lots of interesting explanations of all sorts of tasks onboard ship, as well as nautical items and duties fulfilled by the fishermen, without diverging into the dreaded "telling, not showing" that so many first-time novelists get mired in. Joe also does a great job of portraying Bet (short for Lisbet) as a modern girl, as she was definitely modern for 1933, but she also seems very relatable for girls of middle-school age who might read the book today.

I believe the book would do well in maritime museum gift shops, and I think it should be included in the local middle school curriculum because it contains such important Seattle maritime history told in an exciting, well-written story filled with action, drama, and just enough emotion to touch your heart without being sappy. Well done, Joe, and I really enjoyed reading Bet's story. It made me hope a Book Two might be in the works!

Joe Follansbee has conceived a smart, gutsy, yet very believable female protagonist whom I cheered for from page one. When it comes to maritime history the author is extremely reliable -- but he never lets historical or nautical detail get in the way of the story.

Setting, character, plot -- Follansbee has woven them together beautifully. Stowaway Daughter is filled with adventure and suspense aboard a fishing boat in the Bering Sea, but what I liked best was Bet herself; a smart, gutsy, yet fallible girl on a mission to clear her father's name. I have no doubt the heroine of the story will grow up to be a mathematician, a prosecuting attorney, or captain of her own fishing fleet. This is the sort of novel I would have devoured when I was 11 or 12, the sort of writing that influenced my own at that age.

Great for middle grade to young teens, and fun for adults too. Quality writing!