Mississippi Jack

Meyer, L.A. Mississippi Jack: Being an Account of the Further Waterborne Adventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman, Fine Lady, and the Lily of the West. ISBN-10: 0152060030 , ISBN-13: 9780152060039 . Harcourt Children's Books. 2007.

Summary
Jacky Faber is in the wilderness of America, hoping to avoid capture by the British… again. She has acquired a boat, has made it a casino/showboat where she is heading south on the Mississippi River to New Orleans. Unfortunately, nothing for Jacky is as easy as it should be because along the way she finds herself dealing with bandits, British soldiers and a multitude of scoundrels. But Jacky wouldn't have it any other way, would she?!

Critical Evaluation
In the fifth installment of the Bloody Jack series, Jacky has just escaped a slave ship, runaway from her proper school in Boston, and is now working her sneaky wiles through the American wilderness and down the Mississippi River. She's fooled a man out of his boat, and with her friends (and enemies) she's the talk of the Mississippi River with her casino/showboat. Young adults will enjoy Jacky's adventures and suspense of the scrapes she finds herself narrowly surviving.

Reader's Annotation
Again, Jacky Faber is on the run, but she's in America now and finding exciting times on the Mississippi River.

About the Author
Louis A. Meyer, also known simply as L. A. Meyer, is the author of the eight outstanding books in the Bloody Jack Adventures series. Since his birth in 1942, Meyer has traveled the world with is Army family, graduated from the University of Florida-Gainesville, joined the navy, received his Master's of Fine Arts in Painting from Boston University, he taught school, published two children's books, married and raised two boys, and now he splits his time writing about the infamous Jacky and running his Clair de Loon gallery in Bar Harbor, Maine.

The inspiration for the series came from listening to British and Celtic folk music in his gallery. The radio station was featuring songs about the tales of young girls dressing up as boys to follow their boyfriends out to sea. One of the most famous of these is Jackaroe. Sadly, the girls in history didn't have the spunk of Jacky Faber, as most were thrown to sea. But it was Meyer's vision that Jacky not go following her heart, rather going to fight her certain death by starvation. After eight books, Jacky is still cheating death.

Genre
Adventure
Girls/Women

Curriculum Ties
History: America during the 1800s

Booktalking Ideas
How would you feel if a young girl swindled you out of your boat…
Do you think you could survive the wilds of America in the 1800s…

Awards
n/a

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 15+

Why I included this title...
I was happy to have a chance to read more in this fun series.