Voyage of the Sparrowhawk by Natasha Farrant

A young boy and a young girl become friends and try to beat the odds as they race post World War I France, in a narrow boat to find their remaining family.

Reading Level: Ages 8-12
Read Aloud Age: 8+

This is a good old fashioned orphan adventure story full of danger, excitement, new places, tragedy, interesting characters, and friendship. It’s a light read perfect for a day at the beach. Right from the beginning, I was swept away into compassion and curiosity for these two children. One grew up lost and was then found by a new family and the other grew up in extreme comfort and love only to have it stripped away by evil relatives. It reads a bit like a fairy tale with the two children battling evil to find out if their remaining loved ones are still alive. The people in this book are vibrant and the friends and foes they meet along the way are reminiscent of Charles Dickens’ quirky characters.

The caveat is, they lie all the time. The children are seen as heroes because they are able to deceive and coerce adults into doing what they want. They have noble goals, but the path they take to obtain those goals should be heroic as well. Often, if they had just told the truth they would have avoided problems. There were many adults willing and eager to help them, but the children wrongly thought they had to lie first to get help. There are wonderful themes of bravery, friendship, and love. It was a fun read, but I would be cautious of the way deception is lauded as the only choice to get a favorable outcome.

Language:
Lordy, oh God
D-word x2
phrases with hell such as: “Hell to pay”, “To Hell with it”, “These people be damned”, and “war sounds like hell”
It says a kid swore loudly and extensively but doesn’t give specific words
Two British swear words: Barmy which was used once and Blinking which was used a lot

Questionable Behavior:
Lotti steals a dog, tries to get expelled from school, stabs a sewing teacher with a needle (which she describes as being satisfying), and breaks into the boat
The uncle and aunt are self absorbed, hateful, cruel people
The uncle slaps Lotti as discipline twice and drags her by the hair, threatens to whip and beat her
Lotti, doesn’t think women should be tutors, and arranges for the stolen dog to be shot instead of returned to its owner
As stated in the Mom Thoughts, there is a lot of lying. It is always called lying and they feel bad about it, but the characters believe it is necessary. Sometimes the children lie to authority figures including their guardians, the police, and a customs agent. Some adults lie on their behalf. The children also ask people to lie for them
One adult is seen drinking sherry and a few adults drink champagne at the end
A character wishes a mean character would have died in the war
Some name calling such as savage, snob, copper, and old bat
Lottie sneaks out at night
Lottie says grownups are horribly unfair and they are excited to break away from their authorities and “No more doing what other people say.”
Molly is resentful to her parents
The children talk of thumping people to get their own way

Sexual Content:
An ambiguous sentence could have implied that Clara (an adult) was planning on living with her boyfriend when he came back. It could also be a reference to a different (not sinful) secret about him.

Other Things to Know:
A dog farts and a different one relieves himself
They are orphans post World War I, so death is talked about
There is some violence: A dog catches a pheasant by the neck, Lotti fights against her uncle trying to carry the dog down to the cellar by the collar, the uncle calls in a farm boy to shoot the dog, the uncle is said to have slapped Lotti and pulled her by the hair, and Lotti is said to have stabbed a school teacher with a needle. There are brief descriptions of war torn landscapes.
Lotti cuts her hair and dresses like a boy so she won’t be recognized.
Ben and Lottie share a cabin but different beds.
A naked baby is mentioned as it’s diaper is being changed
Lotti looks for an adult in pubs and sees gambling, smoking, and drinking alcohol. These are not family friendly pubs, but the descriptions are brief
An adult smokes a pipe
There aren’t any mentions of God or faith, but there are some superstitions. Ben mentions the presence of an owl being a good omen and a ring is said to be good luck. The children also imagine their dead loved ones are watching them and one child even thinks a loved one spoke and touched him on the shoulder during an intense time.
There is a very small sub plot of a love at first sight story with an adult man and an adult woman

This review is written by Good Book Mom contributor, Lynnette. To learn more about Lynnette, click HERE.

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclaimer for more info.