Obadiah the Bold

Obadiah is the youngest son in the Starbuck family;

he has two older brothers, Moses and Asa, and then comes Rebecca, Obadiah, and Rachel. The family lives on Nantucket Island at the end of the 18^th century. Obadiah's family are Quakers. As the story opens, they are on their way to Friends Meeting. Obadiah tries to bring his brand new birthday present, a shiny brass spyglass, with him, but his father makes him take it back home.

When the family arrives at Meeting, the women sit on a wooden bench on one side of the room and the men sit on the other. No one preaches or sings, but once in a great while, someone stands up to recite a verse from the Bible. Obadiah has a hard time concentrating – he is thinking of his brand new spyglass. And all of a sudden, he knows that he wants to be a pirate when he grows up! A brave pirate with treasure buried all over...

Obadiah the Bold!

Obadiah tells his family this future plans as they sit at the dinner table, and his father encourages him to be a pirate, but be “a good one.” While the children are playing inside one rainy afternoon, Obadiah asks his brothers to play “pirate” with him. They agree, but Obadiah doesn't like the way they play pirate. They capture him, tie him up and blindfold him, and shove him into the broom closet! Now he is in the brig!

When they take him out, they make him “walk the plank,” which is just a board on the floor, and poke him with a harpoon, which is just a broom handle. But Obadiah's had enough of pirates for a while, and plays happily with his little sister the rest of the day.

The next day, Obadiah is still worried about his future as a pirate. He asks his father if pirates really have to walk the plank or hang from the yardarm. “Yes, if they're wicked enough,” his father answers. And then proceeds to tell him that the bravest man he knew was not a pirate, but Obadiah's own grandfather.

His grandfather, also named Obadiah, captained a ship, the Bonaventure, that sailed around the Horn four times, yet never lost a man. Mr Starbuck shows Obadiah the chronometer that was given to Obadiah's grandfather by a grateful crew, inscribed with his name; someday, it will be Obadiah's.

Then father and son go up to the widow's walk together to watch the ships come in with Obadiah's new spyglass. They can almost see the future with it.

This is the first in a series of four picture books about a Quaker family on Nantucket Island during the 18^th century, told from the point of view of the youngest son. The text is simple and unassuming like the plain people are, and the illustrations are charming, as always. Turkle's  illustrations are joyous and exuberant, the kind that can be recognized anywhere you see them, although he mostly illustrated his own books. In this case, the illustrations perfectly match the mood and time period of the story.

If you are looking for that elusive unicorn, a father-son relationship in which both are delighted to be in each other's company, here it is!

Although Mr Starbuck is treated with the utmost obedience and respect  by his family, the warmth and fond feeling between father and son is palpable. I love the way the family history is passed down, too, from father to son.

I was interested to learn that Brinton Turkle became enamored with Nantucket after vacationing there with his family and so set his story on the island, which was known for having a large population of Quakers at this point in history.

CONTENT CONSIDERATIONS

The two older Starbuck brother play rough with little brother Obadiah, but it may be called bullying or hazing today