The Sentinels

A books for boys? Yes, but much more. Adventure on the high seas: 15-year-old John Spencer, orphaned and placed as a midshipman on a Royal Navy ship combating the slave trade in the 1800s. A rich diversity of characters - though John less well delineated than the rest, perhaps. A book with honour and decency at its centre - old-fashioned concepts, but alive and well in these pages. Carter has much to say - he races us through the exploits of John's ship, the Sentinel, at exhilarating speed but with a sharp eye towards what we need to know, to feel, to judge and to draw conclusions from. I loved this book - my attention was held all the way through by the power and pace of the writing. This is highly recommended for able readers in the fourth and fifth years - perhaps even in the third. Yes, it's a book for boys - and what a book!