Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch is a novel by Jean Lee Latham that was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1956.
 First edition cover | |
| Author | Jean Lee Latham |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | John O'Hara Cosgrave II |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | none |
| Genre | Children's novel, biographical |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
Publication date | 9 September 1955 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 251 |
| ISBN | 0-395-06881-9 |
| OCLC | 15814480 |
The book is a children's biography of Nathaniel Bowditch, a sailor and mathematician who published the mammoth and comprehensive reference work for seamen: The American Practical Navigator. It is an epic tale of adventure and learning.
Plot summary
The novel introduces readers to young Nathaniel "Nat" Bowditch, the son of a cooper (a maker of wooden barrels).
Nat loves school, especially mathematics. He dreams of someday attending Cambridge's Harvard University, but is forced by economic circumstances to quit school and help his father make barrels. Eventually, he ends up as an indentured servant to a ship's chandler. Still determined to continue his education, and compelled to work for the chandlery for nine long years, he begins to teach himself Latin. After being granted access to a local private library, he continues to study and to master mathematics in the evenings after work.
When his indenture is complete, he gets the chance to go to sea. There, he discovers that many of the navigational sources used at the time contain extensive and dangerous errors. He is prompted to compile a new book of navigational information. This book, The American Practical Navigator, is still in use today. Under Captain Prince, Nat learns how things work at sea.
He invents new ways of calculating latitude and longitude, increasing the accuracy of calculations used to find ships' locations. He also teaches the crew on the ships about navigation. Eventually Nat becomes a captain himself. In the course of the book, Nat receives an honorary degree from the school he always wanted to attend, Harvard.
Reception
Kirkus Reviews called the book "A readable biography of the man who was scarcely out of his teens before he had written the authoritative book on navigation still used at Annapolis".[1] In a retrospective essay about the Newbery Medal-winning books from 1956 to 1965, librarian Carolyn Horovitz wrote of Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, Rifles for Watie, The Witch of Blackbird Pond and The Bronze Bow: "All have value, all are told skilfully. If they lack the qualities of greatness, it is largely because their style has a commercial sameness."[2]
Further reading
Intended for young readers, Carry On, Mr. Bowditch includes many dramatized and fictional components. A serious modern biography is Robert E. Berry's Yankee Stargazer, published in 1941. This book is a true story.
References
- "CARRY ON, MR. BOWDITCH by Jean Lee Latham". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
- Horovitz, Carolyn (1965). "Only the Best". In Kingman, Lee (ed.). Newbery and Caldecott Medal Books: 1956-1965. Boston: The Horn Book, Incorporated. p. 160. LCCN 65-26759.
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by The Wheel on the School |
Newbery Medal recipient 1956 |
Succeeded by Miracles on Maple Hill |