Mutiny on the Bounty

by John Boyne

This is an historical novel that traces the steps of the HMS Bounty on it's journey to Tahiti. It describes the mutiny, and then describes the journey of William Bligh and the faithful sailors to Timor and then to England. The story is related by a fictional character called John Jacob Turnstile. He is 14 years old, and an orphan.

The story is engrossing and vividly told.

The author also wrote "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas".

Copper Sun

by Sharon M. Draper

I decided to read this book because I had read, and enjoyed other books by the same author. This book is also exceptionally good.

It tells the story of a young african girl, how she was humiliated and traded as a slave, was transported to America and was bought as the plaything of the teenage son of the owner of a rice plantation. She escaped with a little boy, and a white girl who was a servant, and they managed to get to a place in Florida which was ruled by the Spaniards and where runaway slaves were considered to be free.

This is historical fiction. It provides vivid descriptions of slavery, indentured servants, rice plantations in South Carolina in the Colonial period (1600 - 1775), the Spanish Colony in Florida (1565 - 1763) and of African Americans in the 18th century.