Curse of the blue tattoo. (A Bloody Jack adventure, #2.) : being an account of the misadventures of Jacky Faber, midshipman and fine lady

Amazon.com Review Shiver me timbers! Bloody Jack is back and this time, sheвЂTMs facing a situation far worse than a ship full of murderous pirates. Curse of the Blue Tattoo , L.A. MeyerвЂTMs sequel to the enormously popular Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, ShipвЂTMs Boy is just as bawdy and entertaining as the original. Left in Boston by the H.M.S. Dolphin crew when they discover her true sex, Jacky Faber finds herself navigating entirely new waters. It turns out that bloodthirsty buccaneers have nothing on the young ladies at the Lawson Peabody School! As Jacky observes, "…theyвЂTMre like any bunch of thirty or so cats thrown in a sack and shaken up good. TheyвЂTMre mean in ways that boys never even thought of being." It isnвЂTMt long before Jacky shows her true colors by being arrested for "exposing a Female Part" (her knee) while jigging in the streets and is "busted down" to serving girl instead of student. Jacky soldiers on, getting herself into scrapes that her darling beau midshipman Jaimy Fletcher couldnвЂTMt even begin to imagine, including uncovering a shady ministerвЂTMs evil secret and fixing a horse race with voodoo. And where in the world is seafaring Jaimy? As her letters to him continue to go unanswered, Jacky grows more and more worried. Still, at bookвЂTMs end she takes an assignment as "ladyвЂTMs companion" to the captainвЂTMs wife aboard a whaler headed for London. Astute readers will notice that the whalerвЂTMs crabby captain has a peg leg and wonвЂTMt be surprised if in the next Bloody Jack Adventure, Jacky ends up hunting the great white whale! Utterly engaging and incredibly well-paced, Curse of the Blue Tattoo is the very best kind of historical fiction: the kind that wonвЂTMt leave teens snoring. Meyer effortlessly maintains JackyвЂTMs sassy voice and conflicted conscience in what is shaping up to be a great series. While many readers will groan with despair as Jacky sets off yet again at the end of the book, they will also sigh with relief that they will most likely be meeting her again! --Jennifer Hubert From School Library Journal Grade 8 Up–In this sequel to Bloody Jack (Harcourt, 2002), Meyer continues the adventures of the wild and wanton Jacky, who sailed aboard HMS Dolphin as a crewmemberuntil it was discovered that he was really a girl. Here, she must leave her true love, Jaimy, when she is put ashore in Boston for a new start at an elite girls' school. She describes her snobbish classmates and the failed attempts of the headmistress to make a lady out of her. A natural show-off, Jacky loves to play her pennywhistle and dance on the streets. When she is arrested and jailed for showing some knee, she is demoted to serving girl. She hooks up with a drunken violin player to perform in taverns to earn money to get back to England and her Jaimy. With her propensity for plunging headfirst into trouble, the irrepressible Jacky rolls quickly from one adventure to another. As the story ends, she signs onto a whaler bound for England, leaving an opening for a third volume. Meyer does an excellent job of conveying life in Boston in 1803, particularly the rights, or lack thereof, of women. Jacky's headstrong certainty that she's in control and her cocky first-person account make her a memorable heroine. The narrative is full of lecherous men, and Jacky herself is free in her ways. This fact and the sometimes-strong language make this book more appropriate for older readers. Sure to please fans of the first title, this adventure-packed historical novel also stands on its own. –Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME Copyright В© Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. After being forced to leave HMS *Dolphin* and Jaimy, her true love, Jacky Faber is making a new start at the elite Lawson Peabody School for Young Girls in Boston. But growing up on the streets of London and fighting pirates never prepared Jacky for her toughest battle yet: learning how to be a fine lady. *Everything* she does is wrong. Her embroidery is deplorable, her French is atrocious, and her table manners--disgusting! Then there's the small matter of her blue anchor tattoo. . . . Despite her best efforts, Jacky can't seem to stay out of trouble long enough to dedicate herself to being ladylike. But what fun would that be, anyway? In 1803, After Being Exposed As A Girl And Forced To Leave Her Ship, Jacky Faber Finds Herself Attending School In Boston, Where, Instead Of Learning To Be A Lady, She Battles Her Snobbish Classmates, Roams The City In Search Of Adventure, And Learns To Ride A Horse.