A SPECIAL PROVIDENCE

Down to the last bolt and the most insignificant passenger, the voyage of the Mayflower is familiar fare to the juvenile reader. A certain freshness is given to this version, however, by emphasizing the beginning of the voyage with its nerve-wracking delays and the controversy between ""the Leyden people"" and those leaving directly from England. In Giles Hopkinson, the boy narrator of this story, the author has been able to reconcile a warm, lively personality with a realistically drawn Puritan upbringing. Within this framework many details about the layout of the ship and the customs of the people have been smoothly and naturally included.