BLUEWATER JOURNAL

Krupinski (A New England Scrapbook, 1994) notes that she pored over old logbooks and letters to create this fictional journal of a 19th-century boy's sea journey from Mystic, Conn. to Hawaii. The result reflects a love of land- and seascapes, beasts both marine and domestic, and all aspects of the sailor's life. The story begins with the christening of the ship; the narrator only introduces himself after cataloguing the cargo. There are dynamic portraits of whales, parrots, and mountains, and depictions of slipknots are actually more intriguing than the rather lifeless faces of the people. A wealth of detail and robust plot keep the pages turning; Krupinski spices up the story by including a race with a rival ship. Even if the human element takes a back seat to maritime Americana, there's more than a whiff of the exotic blowing through these pages. A worthwhile adventure, and a small slice of nautical history. (glossary) (Picture book. 6-9)