Book Review: Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

We read a lot of children's lit around here. We rip through picture books and read at least one long book (200ish pages) every week. We read. A lot of great stuff. Some of it stands out so much I have to share.

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch won a Newbery Medal and most deservedly. The story is fantastic, the writing is amazing, the characters are real and fascinating. But the thing that put this over the top for me, as one of the best children's books I have EVER read, was the moral.

Nat Bowditch was a brilliant mathematician with an amazing mind. He dreamed of going to Harvard and his dreams were thwarted by life's circumstances. Early in Nat's life, a man who had faced similar circumstances points out the misery of his life and his destiny to never amount to what he should. Another man overhears this and instead instructs young Nat in a nautical term used for the effort it requires to sail the ship when the wind is not in your favor. He points out that you can still get to your destination, it simply takes more effort and more time. Nat, holds the words of both men throughout his life, using their inspiration to achieve amazing things.

Nathaniel Bowditch was a real person. His story is inspiring and reminded me of so many people I know who were handed bad situations (family, lack of educational opportunity, poverty or physical limitations) and yet have sailed on, reaching great things, despite the wind not being in their favor.

A great book that should be required reading for American students. In my house, it is.