Voyage of Midnight (Chronicles of Courage (Knopf Library)) [Library Binding]

Michele Torrey (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up | Series: Chronicles of Courage (Knopf Library)

Philip is an orphan, and has spent most of his life suffering the cruelties of the workhouse. So when he learns he has an uncle--and not just any uncle, but a rich uncle, captain of his own ship--he sets off for New Orleans to find him.

Find him he does, and when Uncle offers him the position of surgeon's mate on his ship, the Formidable, Philip couldn't be happier. At last, he's found his family! But little does he know the purpose of the journey he's about to embark on: Uncle is a slave trader, and the ship is bound for Africa to collect their cargo.

Caught between his lifelong desire for a family and the promise of a better life, and the shocking brutality he witnesses aboard the Formidable, Philip must open his eyes and decide for himself the true meaning of family, freedom, and humanity.


From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6–9—A powerful, beautifully written tale about the evils of early-19th-century slavery. In 1818, orphaned Philip leaves Liverpool to find his uncle in New Orleans. Two years later, after living with a kindly couple and helping out in their chemist shop, he finds the man, who is a ship captain. After joining his uncle's crew, he realizes that the Captain is a slave trader who firmly believes that buying and selling human beings is part of the natural order of things. Philip, however, sees only brutality, especially after he is forced to brand a captured African. Before the ship ends its mission, illness and death have ravaged both the enslaved and the sailors. Torrey does a fine job of showing history through the eyes of a teenager who has to deal with something he knows is evil. The characterization is strong and believable, and Philip is a compelling hero. This gripping story provides readers not only with a vivid picture of a shameful past, but also with an understanding of its cruelty.—Jane G. Connor, South Carolina State Library, Columbia
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

English orphan Philip Higgins, 14, is delighted to learn that he has an American uncle who is a successful ship captain. After searching for several years, he finds his relative--and despite the good life he has had with kind foster parents, he accepts a position as surgeon's mate on his uncle's ship. Excitement soon turns to horror, however, when the ship heads to Africa to bring back slaves, and Philip witnesses his uncle's heartless, inhumane behavior toward human cargo. Then the crew and the slaves are stricken by ophthalmia, which causes blindness. Phillip alone regains sight, and he uses the opportunity to take the Africans home. The story works on multiple levels: as a suspenseful nautical adventure; a heart-wrenching account of the slave trade; and a coming-of-age story. Philip is a well-developed character whose powerful narrative (including some graphic descriptions), incorporates abundant historical detail, which Torrey explores further in an appended note. A glossary completes this engrossing, eye-opening historical novel, which examines one boy's response to a call for action. Shelle Rosenfeld
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Library Binding: 240 pages
• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (November 14, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375923829
• ISBN-13: 978-0375923821
• Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,345,161 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michele Torrey first became a published author at age ten, when her story about a dinosaur egg popping out of the kitchen sink appeared in the Seaview Heights Elementary newspaper. Her fifth grade class, located in Edmonds, Washington, wrote, edited, and published the newspaper.

While Torrey has lived most of her life in Washington, she has traveled throughout the world. As a child, she lived overseas in England and France, and spent most of her junior high and high school years in Heidelberg, Germany. At the age of four, she lived in Cockfield, England, where she first attended grammar school. She remembers the handbell calling the children in from recess, the morning's recitation of the Lord's Prayer, hot custard for lunch, and the bratty girl Rosemary who stuck out her tongue at Michele and got a spanking for it. When Torrey temporarily moved back to the United States and her classmates asked how English people spoke, she promptly responded in all seriousness and with a thick country accent, "Cheerio, ol' chap!" All in all, Torrey spent ten years of her childhood overseas. She returned to the Seattle area in her senior year, after which she completed a degree in microbiology and immunology from the University of Washington.

For the past sixteen years, Torrey has explored the depths of her imagination while writing novels for adults, young adults, and middle-grade. Her books include the CHRONICLES OF COURAGE seafaring series for middle-grade (Knopf), and the DOYLE AND FOSSEY: SCIENCE DETECTIVES chapter book series (Sterling). She is a two-time Thurber House Residency in Children's Literature nominee, plus a two-time winner of PNWA's Zola Award. Among other honors, her books have been chosen by the Junior Library Guild, named by VOYA as "Top Shelf Fiction for Middle-Grade Readers", and nominated for the Sakura Medal. Most recently, her book VOYAGE OF PLUNDER was a WA State Book Award finalist. Torrey is a regular presenter at writers' conferences and schools. She lives in South Bend, Washington, with her husband. They have three grown sons, two granddaughters, and a calico cat.

In addition to her writing and traveling, Torrey is a director and co-founder of Orphans Africa, a 501 c 3 nonprofit charity (www.orphansafrica.org). Orphans Africa works primarily in Tanzania, building boarding schools for children orphaned by AIDS.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A Heart Warming Story, March 27, 2011

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Book worm - See all my reviews

This review is from: Voyage of Midnight (Chronicles of Courage (Knopf Hardcover)) (Kindle Edition)

This book is probably around ages 10-13.
Michelle Tory's chose for words flow on the pages like honey on bread and butter.

This book is absolutly wonderful it shows the hardship and how cruel slavery was.
I absolutly loved it, it made me cry in some parts and laugh at others