Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy

The Bibliography
Meyer, L.A. 2002. Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy. San Diego: Harcourt. ISBN 0152167315

The Characters
The main character of Bloody Jack is Mary "Jacky" Faber, an orphan girl turned ship's boy in eighteenth-century London. Other characters include her ship's boy friends, Benjy, Davy, Tink, Willy and Jaimy. There are many more characters, other shipmates and officers of the Royal Navy, and Mary's orphan friends still in London.

The Plot
Mary Faber lived on the streets of London in 1797 after her family died of the plague. She disguises herself as a boy to join a pirate-hunting ship of the Royal Navy to escape the streets. Calling herself Jacky, she earns her way on the ship by being able to read. She and the other ship's boys grow up on the ship. There's where the problems begin for Jacky. The ruse of "The Deception" wears thin when her voice doesn't drop, she stops taking off her clothes to swim with the boys and, uh oh, she gets her period. Love starts to bloom on the ship, but it's awkward because Jaimy, another ship's boy, thinks he's in love with another boy! Luckily for Jaimy, Jacky reveals herself to him. They plan to leave the ship together and get married, but she's found out and gets dropped off at a boarding school in Boston.

The Setting
late eighteenth century London and across the seas to North America

The Theme
The theme of Bloody Jack is a coming of age theme and a story of love for a poor girl, dressed as a boy, trying to live an adventurous life.

The Style
Bloody Jack is written in the words of Mary "Jacky" Faber. She was taught to read and knows how to speak properly, but grew up on the streets and on a ship surrounded by sailors. She picks up a way of speaking that mimics her environment, and the time period.

The Analysis
I liked reading Bloody Jack and plan to read the sequels. It took me a while to get used to the way Jacky spoke and thought, but in order for it to be an accurate historical novel, it had to be done. I did think it was interesting the way her voice changed throughout the progression of the novel, she sounded like a scraggly orphan at the beginning, a sailor in the middle, but when she came out to Jaimy, she began to sound more like a proper lady. The changes were subtle, but they were there.

The Review
Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2002 (Vol. 70, No. 15))
Posing as a lad in the late 1790s, a spunky orphan girl secures a job as a ship's boy in the British Navy, a position that becomes compromised by her evolving maturity and love for a fellow crewmember. Meyer, a debut novelist, has penned a rousing old-time girl's adventure story, with an outsized heroine who is equal parts gutsy and vulnerable, then sets her loose on a pirate-hunting vessel in the high seas. The novel is full of action and derring-do, but the real suspense is generated by maintaining what the heroine calls "The Deception," her disguise as a boy. Initially, it's fairly easy because Jacky, as the heroine decides to call herself, is as flat-chested, hairless, and high-voiced as the rest of the boys. She simulates using the ship's head, imitating the boys' "shake-and-wiggle action" and even creates a faux penis out of cloth under her drawers, so that she's as "well rigged out" as the rest of the lads. Clever and courageous, Jacky deals with both the ship's bully and pedophile, fights pirates valiantly, and manages to save the day for her shipmates, enabling them to secure the buccaneers' booty. Jacky is such a marvelous creation that the other characters feel shadowy in comparison, and the least engaging parts of the novel involve her secret romance with a fellow ship's boy. Capped by a fitting but bittersweet ending, the first-person narrative shines, and a wealth of historical research is seamlessly knitted into the material. A first-rate read.

The Connection
This would be a fun book to read aloud during the book club I have with a local elementary school. They always like it when I do voices, and this one is full of them. It would be interesting to read this book, then read books about pirates, like the Library of Pirates books by Aileen Weintraub.