THE SIGN OF THE GOLDEN FISH

Originally scheduled for last Fall, and so reported this was postponed to Spring. Another title in the Land of the Free series (see note on previous title), an exciting job of research, and for that reason an important school and library item (upper grade elementary and junior high). Unfortunately, as in some of the others, the pace of the story is slow, the plot often threadbare, the language uneven in age level. But the author has given fresh, significant material and interesting details on the fish-curing industry on the coast of Maine, back in 1646 when Cornishmen settled there. The story centers around Chris Tobey who escaped from a Puritan-owned English vessel to join his father, and ran head on into the troubles that plagued the Cornishmen -- Indians, Royalists, Puritans, their own lawless settlers, and the long arm of British control...This series is introducing untouched material, and this is no exception.