Starboard
Starboard
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Publisher's Hardcover ©2023--
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HarperCollins
Annotation: Nicola Skinner's inventive, funny, surprising prose once again tells an honest story of big emotions, making Starboard t... more
 
Reviews: 5
Catalog Number: #371521
Format: Publisher's Hardcover
Publisher: HarperCollins
Copyright Date: 2023
Edition Date: 2023 Release Date: 06/06/23
Pages: 401 pages
ISBN: 0-06-307173-8
ISBN 13: 978-0-06-307173-5
Dewey: Fic
LCCN: 2022938679
Dimensions: 20 cm
Language: English
Reviews:
Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews

An 11-year-old English reality TV star discovers what really matters.Kirsten Bramble, the Kirsten Bramble of At Home With the Brambles, a successful show in which Kirsten tries to help her single, adoptive dad find a girlfriend (even though he doesn't want one), thinks of her life in terms of lines to be learned, scripts to be followed, and a brand to be developed. On a class school trip to visit the dry-docked SS Great Britain in her hometown of Bristol, Kirsten feels a strange pull toward the beautiful ship. During the tour, she becomes separated from the other children, later to be found by her ex–best friend, Olive Chudley. (Clever but not traditionally telegenic Olive was replaced on the TV show with a child actor in the role of best friend; she and Kirsten have been estranged since.) As the two girls begin to leave, strange things happen: The ship starts moving, breaking out of dry dock and setting off with Kirsten, Olive, and the mannequins who inhabit the exhibits onboard. This magical mystery tour of an adventure quest is written with a profound understanding of the human condition and all the ways people (and magical ships and mannequins) try to avoid the pull of their deepest needs. As the story unfolds, Kirsten, at turns fearful and belligerent, gradually begins to understand the true nature of the journey. Main characters read White.An extraordinarily profound and far-reaching coming-of-age story. (author's note) (Fantasy. 8-12)

ALA Booklist

As a waning reality-TV star, 11-year-old Kirsten has a lot on her mind as she embarks on a class field trip. But all of that goes to the wayside when she finds herself at the field trip's destination: the SS Great Britain, a dry-docked 1837 ocean-liner-turned-museum. Enamored, Kirsten is unable to pull herself away after her class has disembarked. The ship feels the same toward the girl, and just as her ex best friend, Olive, comes to fetch her, it breaks loose and splashes into the sea with Kirsten as captain. Even weirder, the ship communicates with Kirsten via telepathy, a chatty map, and museum mannequins come to life, leaving the feuding friends with no choice but to embark on an incredible journey. This inventive book proceeds with a wonderful air of whimsy and humor, and readers will be delighted to know that the ship is a real-life destination. The offbeat plot has wacky moments, but it also goes deeper, demonstrating that loving others is a strength, never a weakness. An enthralling adventure packed with history and heart.

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

An 11-year-old English reality TV star discovers what really matters.Kirsten Bramble, the Kirsten Bramble of At Home With the Brambles, a successful show in which Kirsten tries to help her single, adoptive dad find a girlfriend (even though he doesn't want one), thinks of her life in terms of lines to be learned, scripts to be followed, and a brand to be developed. On a class school trip to visit the dry-docked SS Great Britain in her hometown of Bristol, Kirsten feels a strange pull toward the beautiful ship. During the tour, she becomes separated from the other children, later to be found by her ex–best friend, Olive Chudley. (Clever but not traditionally telegenic Olive was replaced on the TV show with a child actor in the role of best friend; she and Kirsten have been estranged since.) As the two girls begin to leave, strange things happen: The ship starts moving, breaking out of dry dock and setting off with Kirsten, Olive, and the mannequins who inhabit the exhibits onboard. This magical mystery tour of an adventure quest is written with a profound understanding of the human condition and all the ways people (and magical ships and mannequins) try to avoid the pull of their deepest needs. As the story unfolds, Kirsten, at turns fearful and belligerent, gradually begins to understand the true nature of the journey. Main characters read White.An extraordinarily profound and far-reaching coming-of-age story. (author's note) (Fantasy. 8-12)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

A Bristol field trip turns sea adventure for a young reality-TV star in this thoughtful swashbuckling fantasy from Skinner (Storm). Eleven-year-old Kirsten Bramble is known for At Home with the Brambles, a show that evolved from Kirsten’s desire to help her adopted father find true love. Kirsten’s under pressure to promote the Bramble brand, but she swaps television drama for her own desires during a field trip to the formerly renowned SS Great Britain, which finds her immediately taken with the docked ship. After she dons a long-missing captain’s hat while aboard, a people-reading map reveals that Kirsten is a chosen one whose needs are “eerily tangled up” with those of the vessel, and they must make a journey in which things will be named, people will be forgiven, and truths will be revealed. Magically, the ship takes to the sea, peopled by Kirsten; estranged best friend Olive Chudley, who has a history with Kirsten’s family’s show; and a crew of animate fiberglass museum-display mannequins. Acknowledging the feeling of an ill-fitting existence and the thrill of true connection (the ship “radiated a mysterious power. It made her stop walking. It made her hold her breath”), a mystically tinged third-person voice follows the memorable characters’ slow-growing sense of authenticity and self following myriad losses. Human protagonists cue as English and white. A historical note concludes. Ages 8–12. (June)

Reviewing Agencies: - Find Other Reviewed Titles
Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews
Starred Review for Publishers Weekly (Tue Feb 07 00:00:00 CST 2023)
ALA Booklist
Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)
Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)
Reading Level: 3.8
Interest Level: 3-6

Nicola Skinner's inventive, funny, surprising prose once again tells an honest story of big emotions, making Starboard the perfect follow-up to the critically acclaimed Storm.

Kirsten Bramble is too famous to have friends. That’s what she tells herself, anyway—but with the end of her hit reality TV show barreling toward her, Kirsten’s not sure she’s ready to say goodbye to her lonely life of fame.

Luckily—or unluckily—Kirsten can’t help being plunged headfirst into a new adventure when she’s dragged on a class trip to visit the SS Great Britain. Because somehow, the ancient ship can speak to her—and she wants Kirsten to be her new captain.

The ship pulls out of the harbor with no sails and no working engine, and try as Kirsten might, she can’t convince the ship to turn back until they find a way to help her finish her final quest.

Kirsten doesn’t feel like a captain—but along the way, she may just realize that the ending of an adventure, while scary, can be just as special as the beginning.


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