Ship - Softcover

David Macaulay

3.82

133 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0751370223 ISBN 13: 9780751370225

Publisher: Dorling Kindersley Children's, 1994

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Recreates the story of the archaeological recovery of a caravelle. Although this was the first craft used to bring European explorers to America, no known drawings or models remain to show how it was built. In this book we join a team of archaeologists as they discover a wrecked caravelle on a Caribbean reef. Their fascinating factual recovery of its artefacts is recounted through dozens of documents, drawings, and maps. As the book weaves a fictional account of the Magdalena's last voyage, the book shows the author's skill in putting across a wealth of historical and technical information in an engrossing way.

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Review:

With so much interest in the raising of the Titanic, young readers will certainly be fascinated with David Macaulay's ambitious Ship. Like the recent movie Titanic, Macaulay uses the present day as a portal to the past--first recounting a diving expedition that leads to the discovery of Magdalena, a fictitious 15th-century wooden ship embedded in a treacherous reef near the Bahamas. Overcoming obstacles from pirate treasure hunters to government bureaucracy, the excavation team manages to piece together the intriguing but ultimately tragic story behind the 400-year-old caravel. Finally, the team hits pay dirt when the ship owner's 1504 diary is miraculously discovered in an archive library in Spain's Seville. At this point the narrative switches into the past, allowing the reader to witness the building of the ship through the voice of the ship's owner--and experience the heart-wrenching escalation of the owner's hopes and dreams. This is what Macaulay does best--highlighting and interweaving the human story that fuels the creation of an object, while masterfully visualizing the event with detailed, historically accurate illustrations. Macaulay fans will appreciate the diverse artistic styles displayed throughout the book, from murky underwater images to highly detailed architectural drawings, sepia-toned journal entries to impressionistic watercolors. Simultaneously, the author eloquently portrays the many voices of this human drama, especially that of the ill-fated ship owner. (Ages 10 and older) --Gail Hudson

About the Author:

David Macaulay is an award-winning author and illustrator whose books have sold millions of copies in the United States alone, and his work has been translated into a dozen languages. Macaulay has garnered numerous awards including the Caldecott Medal and Honor Awards, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, the Christopher Award, an American Institute of Architects Medal, and the Washington Post–Children’s Book Guild Nonfiction Award. In 2006, he was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, given “to encourage people of outstanding talent to pursue their own creative, intellectual, and professional inclinations.” Superb design, magnificent illustrations, and clearly presented information distinguish all of his books. David Macaulay lives with his family in Vermont.

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