Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
Ratings6
Average rating4.5
15
Ratings6
Average rating4.5
In this book, the largely unknown and frequently forgotten Nathaniel Bowditch comes to life in a brilliant portrait of his life. Readable for all ages, the book begins as the Bowditch family moves back to Salem, Massachusetts. *Carry On, Mr. Bowditch* follows Nathaniel Bowditch as he grows older and steadily more brilliant in mathematics and sciences, teaching himself by candle light and doing amazing things like learning Latin by himself. This book follows Bowditch's life through from a very young child to a fully grown and aging man. Although written like a novel and can read like fiction, the events of his life as represented in this book are accurate.
Reviews with the most likes.
For the last several months, my children and I have been immersed in the adventures of Mr. Bowditch from boyhood to respected manhood. I love the person that he is and the example that he creates. For months, I have seen other parents talk about how sad this book is, but we never felt that. Yes, people die, it was a historical time of short lifespans and dangerous professions and disease, but there is so much hope. There is joy in the small places and such intelligence to share with anyone with an ear willing to hear. I really enjoyed this book and my children loved the adventure as well. I'm wondering now if we should travel off on other journeys by boat and ship or continue along our merry historical way. There was definitely a fire of creativity lit with this novel for us all.
I own a nice classic paperback copy of this book which we read along in the schedule from BookShark Reading with History, Level 3, now known as Core D Introduction to American History part 1.
Holy cow, this guy was a real person!
This was a really cool look at colonial navigation. I learned a lot from it and the story was enjoyable as well. I'd recommend it to kids who are interested in boats or sailing stories.
Such a great book, that I thoroughly enjoyed, but perhaps would have never read had it not been on our curriculum's list of books to read. Nathaniel Bowditch is a great hero for boys and girls alike to look up to as to what it means to persevere. There are many ways to realize your dreams, as long as you never give up!
Nat has every reason to expect that he will be able to attend college and go on to a happy professional life. Then everything is taken away from him. His father has a tragedy at sea and is forced to leave his life as a captain and become a menial worker. His mother dies and his father takes his sorrows out in drink. Nat must then leave school and become an indentured servant. His dreams of school seem lost to him forever.
Nat never succumbs to feeling sorry for himself or bitterness. Instead, he finds a way to use his workplace to better himself, learning everything he can about ships and navigation. He is able to take this new knowledge and teach others, becoming well known as a brilliant mathematician and navigator.
The life of Nathaniel Bowditch is a wonderful story of finding good in bad and becoming all one can become.
