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Reviewed by Emily-Jane Hills Orford for Readers' Favorite
It’s the beginning of World War I and eleven-year-old Samuel’s family has booked to sail from South Africa to the United States. Securing passage is difficult enough, but the war is impeding safe passage. Then Samuel comes down with typhoid fever and is fighting for his life. No ship will allow him to board. His parents make the difficult decision to carry on without him, leaving him in the caring hands of church elders to bring him to the United States when he’s better. Its heart-wrenching for Samuel to be left behind, sick and disoriented as he was, but he’s a strong boy, a fighter and he will persevere. Months later, fully healed, he boards a ship and makes his journey to the United States where he can finally reconnect with his family, finish his education, and make a good life for himself.
Karl Beckstrand’s biography, Samuel Sailing: The True Story of an Immigrant Boy, is the fourth book in the Young American Immigrants series. This is the true story of Samuel P. Martin, told mostly through historic photographs of Samuel and his family, with text to accompany the images. Each page is a collage of old photographs that will fascinate young readers and perhaps even make them want to research their family tree and old family pictures. The story is compassionate and heartwarming as young Samuel grows up, enjoys his life in South Africa, faces his battle with typhoid, and then embarks on his exciting journey to the United States and the life he leads there. A great way to introduce young readers to family histories.
