The Striped Ships by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

The Striped Ships Reviews

• 
  Michael Fitzgerald

  The second half is more engaging than the first, but this is a great historical fiction book. It takes a well-constrained time period and presents a few very believable primary characters as well as secondary ones who help make things fit together within the setting. The author's notes are illuminating, and the glossary is most welcome.
• 
  Sherry Elmer

  Recently, when my son checked the library for Eloise McGraw books (because he loves The Golden Goblet), he found The Painted Ships, which takes place in the time of the Norman invasion of England in 1066. I was so excited to see this. We had read about the Norman Conquest, (thanks to Ambleside Online homeschool curriculum), and this past year my son and I were able to view a replica of the Bayeux Tapestry. It is an amazing work of art. I was so happy he found this wonderful novel that incorporates the invasion and the tapestry. In fact, I secretly read it on my own after he went to bed at night. It is the first children's book, other than animal stories, that made me cry.
• 
  Randi

  Interesting history with strong, self-sufficient young girl. Enjoyed it as much as the first time I read it.
• 
  Ruth Mann

  So sad this book is out of print. Great historical fiction to cover the Norman Invasion of 1066 and how that impacted the Saxons living there, introduced French to the Germanic language of English, and of course the Bayeux Tapestry.
• 
  Haley

  As the book drew me into te story of battles, and Normans taking over the land, i was quite interested about what was to happen. when i first saw the book, i thought it looked so boring that i didn't even want to read it. however, my mom reallu wanted me to read it, and it was then that i remembered the old saving:
  'don't judge a book by it's cover'
  and so i read it, and i'm glad too.
  in this book, a Saxon girl,Juliana, was a thanes daughter, who's father fought with Harlod at the battle of Hastings. because the Normans won the war, with William the conqueror as their leader, Juliana and her little brother, Wulfric, bearly escaped from the fighting Normans and traveled to the city of Canterbury, where Wulfric got what he had always wanted, to be a monk. while Wulfric stayed with his pens and ink, Juliana had prombelms. their mother had also escaped, which was good, but she ran off to a distent ungle, where she was then betrothed to a Norman baron. although this may sound good, it was bad news for Juliana, because not only did she detest all normans, but also her mother found her and wished to bring her back to all the normans, which was her mother's new home. after many dicussions, they made a decision, but to find out what that decision was, you must read the book.
  
  P.S. there are many other neat detals in this book that i didn't explane, so you may wish to read it, which i highly recommend
• 
  Michelle Brock

  McGraw has written a number of books that have weathered well over the years. The Striped Ships is not currently in print, but it's still a well-written historical novel worth reading. The setting is England in 1066 and the years following. Juliana's world is turned upsidedown. Her father's slaves' lives haven't changed much, but her life has. Instead of a passive life of ease, Juli must make her own way. I like how McGraw develops her character. In the beginning, Juli is longing for the familiar; as she grows, she realizes that the familiar is changing into something new, and she takes charge of her own life. I enjoyed the themes of truth and history; the place of the real-life Bayeux Tapestry in the story; and the setting in a world that was rapidly transforming, uncomfortably. It's not especially action packed-- and might be better read aloud than left to be discovered.
• 
  Courtney Stoker

  I got this book from the library because I love McGraw's The Moorchild, but this book felt not quite as well-done, in part because it seemed to lack a plot. It's about a girl in England in 1066, during the Norman invasion. Her whole life flips upside down after the invasion, from one of privilege and wealth to one of penury and drudgery. And she then gets involved in making the Bayeux tapestry. (Google it, it's apparently famous.)
  
  And...that's it. I spent a good majority of the book thinking, "This is leading up to something, isn't it?" and it just never seemed to get there. The background stuff is interesting, since I don't know much about the tapestry or the invasion, but your book can't just be background. I even liked the main character, but I felt I didn't see her do much, and the main conflict in the story (Normans v. Saxons) didn't really seem to involve her.
  
  All that sounds harsh, because I would still recommend this to someone who wanted to read YA historical fiction. It just wasn't McGraw at her best.
• 
  Emily Clifford

  This is the second book I've read by McGraw and she does not shy away from portraying all facets of a situation, not just the pleasant or didactic ones. Juliana is a tough girl, a thane's daughter whose life is upended with the Norman invasion. I know I've learned about this period of history from school, but because I've read this book, I don't think I'll be forgetting it like I've done previously. There is an glossary in the back of the book which is helpful since McGraw doesn't do much explaining in the moment about certain terms or people--I didn't realize that the glossary was there and felt lost a bunch of times. I really liked this book, in spite of it being a hardscrabble story with not a lot of humor.
  
• 
  Karin

  Excellent story, well told. I really wish there'd been some pictures to explain some items of clothes (like a headrail) that are not worn today but would be really interesting to see. I like how Jilly, while trying to help the other members of her family, also looks out for herself and finds a place of her own doing something that means something to her.
  
  Interesting moral dilemma: If the king has broken his oath, does that make him a bad person? Jilly ponders this but not until a monk explains the whole story of the king's fall to her, does she have the wisdom to make up her own mind and thus live her own life.
  
• 
  Omly

  This is the story of Juliana, daughter of a Saxon thane, when the Normans invade and Duke William of Normandy becomes a ruler of England. There is some descriptions of violence, though the narrator is spared some of the worst of the battles.
  
  I was really impressed by the amount of historic detail that was included in this novel, and in the descriptions of the embroidery was particularly interesting.
• 
  LeAnne

  Well-written with a strong sense of the time. What Juliana wants seems to be for the world to go back to the way it was, or failing that, to find a place, which is rather vague. She must lie and defy her mother in order to become her own person. The main direction seems to be to describe the lives and times of those who created the Bayeux tapestry.
• 
  Maureen E

  A children’s story about the making of the Bayeux Tapestry. I found it a bit slow and young, but for the right kid and the right age group it could be really good. Juliana is certainly a compelling heroine and I liked that she didn’t seem horribly anachronistic. [Sept. 2010]