Taking your class on an adventure through the high seas through the pages of a novel sounds much more feasible than, well, than actually taking them on an adventure through the high seas. Avi's The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle is a fast-paced, exciting book sure to keep your students curious and entertained through and through.

One of the opportunities this book brings to your classroom is the chance to explore a completely different time period. Chances are, your students weren't alive in 1832 and if they were, then it's high time they passed the fifth grade. We encourage you to take some time to explore this unique time period. Between the end of the Industrial Revolution and the beginning of the abolition of slavery, there's plenty for your students to uncover. This novel may be starring a young American girl but the culture she lives in will be completely foreign to your students. We're not talking a simple world without technology, but a world with stringent social classes, gender roles and only one means of crossing the ocean that takes an entire summer vacation.