Homeschool Book Report: "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham

Hello, my name is Joshua. I am The Homeschool Kid.
Today I am going to give you a homeschool book report. The book is called "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham.

This book takes place right after the Revolutionary War. It is about a man named Nathaniel Bowditch. He lived in Salem, Massachusetts. When he was a boy, his family was poor and they could not afford to feed all their children. So when he was 12 years old, his father sent him to live and work in a ship chandlery, where they sold supplies for sailing ships. Nathaniel Bowditch wanted to go to Harvard because his dream was to learn. But instead he was forced to be indentured to the ship chandlery for 9 years.

This book is full of sailing analogies and one of them is "sailing by ash breeze". This means if the ship is in the water and there is no wind, then they will use a small boat rowed with oars (made of ash wood) to pull the ship. This analogy is used for Nathaniel Bowditch because he had to learn everything on his on own. He did not have wind to blow his ship because he did not have a teacher to teach him.

When Mr. Bowditch was 21, he was free. Then he became a sailer. And because of his ability in mathematics he discovered a new way of working lunars. A lunar is a way of using the stars and the moon for navigation. He wrote a book about navigation to teach sailors what he learned. Mr. Bowditch's discoveries were so important because at that time, there were so many mistakes in navigation books. He worked hard on his own book because he wanted people to be safer at sea.

I liked this book because I admire Mr. Bowditch. He learned everything on his own. He taught every man on his ships how to work lunars because he felt that everyone should learn.

Stay tuned for homeschool book reports.
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