⇒ Read Captains Courageous Rudyard Kipling 9780486407869 Books

Captains Courageous Rudyard Kipling 9780486407869 Books

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Captains Courageous Rudyard Kipling 9780486407869 Books

I'd always misread the title of the book as Captain Courageous singular and my expectations were that the rich spoiled Harvey Cheyne would slowly over the course of the book develop into a man thanks to a courageous ship captain. Actually the title is Captains Courageous plural and comes from a ballad by Mary Ambree which explains its grammatical strangeness. Captains Courageous is a very short book, my copy being a mere 165 pages even with lots of illustrations, and Rudyard Kipling doesn't waste any time at all getting going. Almost immediately the 15 year old Harvey tips over his ocean liners railing due to a bit of ill advised bravado. Thanks to a lucky rescue by a member of the fishing boat "We're Here" he's scooped up saving him from a watery grave and sending him on a nearly half year journey fishing the Atlantic Ocean.

Initially Harvey demands to be taken ashore and accuses the ship captain of stealing the money from his pockets but after captain Disko Troop lays him out cold the young man quickly discovers some humility and respect. There is no slow maturation for Harvey, the jaw dusting pretty much immediately transforms Harvey into an eager useful member of the crew. Harvey's initial arrival on the boat is April but since they aren't scheduled to pull into port until September he has almost a half year to absorb the fishing life as his parents grieve the loss of their son (the book was written in the 1800's so there's no means of communication between the boat and shore). The crew is a very eclectic group composed of different nationalities including a Gaelic speaking black cook.

Despite the descriptions of the book the story isn't really about Harvey's coming of age. It's about life as a fisherman in the waters around New England with Harvey acting as an alien observer. I've read other books by Kipling and he really is one of the all time great writers but this one is a bit of a challenge. The crew of the "We're Here" all speak in various accents and constantly use nautical slang making it often very hard to understand what people are saying. Sometimes I felt like I was barely hanging by a threat in trying to understand the dialogue but once you get into it you really feel like the words are coming from the mouths of real sailors from the late 1800's minus the profanity. I've read a lot of classic fiction by some of the most famous writers and Rudyard Kipling is as good as any and better than almost all when it comes to writing flowing prose. The book doesn't take long to read but you may have to go through it twice to try and understand all the slang being thrown about.


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Captains Courageous Rudyard Kipling 9780486407869 Books Reviews

Third graders can enjoy this cleverly written classic. It teaches about a natural desire to be accepted, and to develop a positive attitude towards hard work can bring personal satisfaction.
This book is an enjoyable read, and I wish I had read it when I was young. Most kids can't get their heads out of their devices, and have a narrow temperature zone of comfort of three degrees, can't tie a single-knot, can't use a knife, hammer, or close a screen door, and say they are hungry when in fact they just ate two hours ago. This book can reset the perspective of many.
Heavily edited to about a 3rd grade level. I am giving a low rating because the description said "This collector-quality edition includes the complete text of Rudyard Kipling's classic tale."
Great Kids book! Teaches a good lesson! Found out in an interview that Levar Burton found this book to be pivotal to him as a young reader so I got a picture with him holding it.
Refreshing; a transport back to a time and place when hard work is required, children mature quickly, reversals of fortune are dramatic, and where the least of us has an important role to play in the overall scheme of things. Life aboard a commercial fishing vessel in the nineteenth century was brutal requiring hard, hard work, sleeplessness, constant physical danger, unforgiving conditions, and where the workplace is populated by sturdy, ruthless people. Big business interests, similarly. A story of survival at the school of hard knocks.
This is a great story, a classic. However, the publisher (I'm assuming) managed to have a TON of typographical errors which made the story harder to read, especially since it is in a vernacular that is already difficult to follow. Great story, but I would look for a copy from another publisher.
I have read both the Townsend Library version and the original version of Captains Courageous, and I have enjoyed and appreciated both versions. Purchasers of the Townsend Library version need to understand that this version is not "dumbed down" but simply translated into modern, accessible English. As such, it loses some of the original charm and flavor of Kipling's original novel, but it also gains substantially in overall readability. The original version of Captains Courageous is extraordinarily "dialect heavy", which can make it a chore to read.

Here's a comparison of a section of dialog

Original version "Suit yourself. We stole it ef it's any comfort to you. Naow, abaout going back. Allowin' we could do it it, which we can't, you ain't in no fit state to go back to your home, an' we've jest come on to the Banks workin' fer our bread. We don't see ha'af of a hundred dollars a month, let alone pocket-money; an' with good luck we'll be ashore again somewhere abaout the first weeks o' September."

Townsend version "Suit yourself. We stole it if it's any comfort to you. Now, about goin' back to New York. Allowin' we could do it, which we can't, you ain't in no good shape to go back to your home, and we've jest come to the Grand Banks workin' fer our money. We don't see the half of a hundred dollars a month, let alone extra spending money. With good luck, we'll be ashore again somewhere around the first weeks o' September."

The speaker here is Disko Troop, one of the *clearer* speakers in this novel. What happens, with Kipling and this particular novel, is that the dialect can become a slog for just about anyone -- such a slog that the story is hard to follow. I'm pleased with the Townsend "translation", and I think for many who are new to this story (whether they are young readers or mature readers), the Townsend version might not be a bad place to start. The Townsend version retains enough of the dialect to retain the flavor of the Gloucester crew without bogging the reader down with heavy dialect every step of the way.
I'd always misread the title of the book as Captain Courageous singular and my expectations were that the rich spoiled Harvey Cheyne would slowly over the course of the book develop into a man thanks to a courageous ship captain. Actually the title is Captains Courageous plural and comes from a ballad by Mary Ambree which explains its grammatical strangeness. Captains Courageous is a very short book, my copy being a mere 165 pages even with lots of illustrations, and Rudyard Kipling doesn't waste any time at all getting going. Almost immediately the 15 year old Harvey tips over his ocean liners railing due to a bit of ill advised bravado. Thanks to a lucky rescue by a member of the fishing boat "We're Here" he's scooped up saving him from a watery grave and sending him on a nearly half year journey fishing the Atlantic Ocean.

Initially Harvey demands to be taken ashore and accuses the ship captain of stealing the money from his pockets but after captain Disko Troop lays him out cold the young man quickly discovers some humility and respect. There is no slow maturation for Harvey, the jaw dusting pretty much immediately transforms Harvey into an eager useful member of the crew. Harvey's initial arrival on the boat is April but since they aren't scheduled to pull into port until September he has almost a half year to absorb the fishing life as his parents grieve the loss of their son (the book was written in the 1800's so there's no means of communication between the boat and shore). The crew is a very eclectic group composed of different nationalities including a Gaelic speaking black cook.

Despite the descriptions of the book the story isn't really about Harvey's coming of age. It's about life as a fisherman in the waters around New England with Harvey acting as an alien observer. I've read other books by Kipling and he really is one of the all time great writers but this one is a bit of a challenge. The crew of the "We're Here" all speak in various accents and constantly use nautical slang making it often very hard to understand what people are saying. Sometimes I felt like I was barely hanging by a threat in trying to understand the dialogue but once you get into it you really feel like the words are coming from the mouths of real sailors from the late 1800's minus the profanity. I've read a lot of classic fiction by some of the most famous writers and Rudyard Kipling is as good as any and better than almost all when it comes to writing flowing prose. The book doesn't take long to read but you may have to go through it twice to try and understand all the slang being thrown about.