A Lion to Guard Us

Amanda is the oldest of the three children of James and Annie Freebold. The others are Jemmy (8) and Meg (5). Mr Freebold has emigrated to the New World as part of the Jamestown Colony. He left his wife and three children in London where Annie works for a rich woman and the four of them live in her house as well. Before he left for the wild of Virginia, Mr Freebold took the brass door knocker off of their house and gave it to Jemmy to keep them safe while they are apart. He intends to send for them when he has built a house.

            But three years have passed and now Annie Freebold is sick. Because she cannot do her work, Amanda, only 10 or 11, has to do it instead. But then Annie passes away, and the children are left virtually parentless. When Amanda asks for her mother's money, Mistress Trippett throws them out of the house. They wander London wondering how to get to their father in the New World. Dr Crider finds them and they all embark together on the Sea Adventure (Sea Venture.)

            The Sea Venture, if you recall, was one of the nine ships that started out from Plymouth for the colonies and were separated in a storm. The Sea Venture was the ship that was wrecked off the Bahamas. And so the reunion of the children with their father is delayed another nine months, as the shipwreck victims have to rebuild a boat to continue their trip to Virginia. Through it all, it is the courage and determination of Amanda that keeps the Freebold children together and purposefully continuing on their way.

            Clyde Robert Bulla has delivered another historically accurate tale of survival and adventure. Set in the most difficult of circumstances, this story will enchant your youngest listeners. Though separated from family and taken advantage of by an “employer,” the children's hopeful courage buoys them through the dark times, until the light shines again.

Content considerations

There's plenty of loss here for young children, but there's enough hope to balance it. Mrs Freebold dies, and then Dr Crider dies/disappears from the ship's deck. Mr Freebold is ill when the children finally find him, but it is implied that he recovers.

            Fellow travelers state that Bermuda is “where the devils are!” Others speculate that the Spanish made up the “devils” to keep other settlers away.