Lowly’s Book Blog

Is there anything better than a rollicking good adventure story? Last week I was marketing this book to a group of students who had just finished studying the first book in the Sam Silverthorne series, and I got a very favourable response. I was talking about the predictability of the story and how that can be a positive thing, and the audience seemed to understand. We could talk in half sentences and still communicate effectively.

Now for all of you out there who have not read Quest, the first of the Sam Silverthorne series, you need a quick introduction to Sam. This is a young man living a wealthy lifestyle in Victorian London. His passion is for natural history, biology to the 21st century reader. All kinds of rare and wonderful animals fascinate him, as well as the common and the everyday pigeons. Steve Irwin and Sam Silverthorne would be soulmates.

Sam is also passionate about his father. In the first book, his father has disappeared in the wilds of Indonesia, and Sam sets out to find him. This time, father is set the task of investigating so very rare butterflies that have invaded London’s parks. Very unusual butterflies because they appear to feed on human blood. From the Natural History museum they discover that the offending butterflies are Chinese, so Sam and his father take off for Shanghai.

For this to be a true children’s adventure book, the adult needs to be removed from the story. Crew does this by having Sam’s father poisoned the night they arrive in China. Father is too ill to travel, so Sam is sent up the Yangtze river to find the mysterious butterflies. OK credibility is stretched, possibly a little too far, but if you come along for the ride, you will have fun.

This book is truly fun. There is a little bit of history teaching that takes place. What modern child understands the Opium Wars, and England’s part in encouraging narcotic addiction in China last century. By the end of this book they will understand the damage done to a society. But the teaching is subtle almost invisible between the adventures.