Curse of the Blue Tattoo

Curse of the Blue Tattoo
 by L. A. Meyer

Bibliography

Meyer, L. A. (2004). Curse of the blue tattoo. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Books. ISBN 9781415545881

Summary

Discovered!  Jack is really Jacky and so must leave the ship she loves and become a fine lady.  This doesn't work out and the adventures really begin for Jacky Faber.  Experience penny-whistle playing, colonial boarding school drama, a nefarious preacher, and lots of excitement in this Bloody Jack adventure.

Critical Analysis

Who doesn't love a good historical yarn, especially one as well written as this one?  Meyer deftly creates well-rounded characters both heroine, minor characters, and villains.  Of course Jacky has her flaws, don't we all, but you can't help but root for her with her resourceful ways and cleverness.  Set in colonial days in America, Curse of the Blue Tattoo, takes the reader back in time and allows us to glimpse the past, but not at the expense of the strongly plotted story.  Everything feels of-a-piece - the setting, the characters, and the plot - and blends into a fantastic adventure tale with a little mystery mixed in.  Really enjoyable to read and will keep teen readers up late to find out what happens next.

Review Excerpts

*Utterly engaging and incredibly well-paced, Curse of the Blue Tattoo is the very best kind of historical fiction: the kind that won’t leave teens snoring. Meyer effortlessly maintains Jacky’s sassy voice and conflicted conscience in what is shaping up to be a great series. While many readers will groan with despair as Jacky sets off yet again at the end of the book, they will also sigh with relief that they will most likely be meeting her again! --Jennifer Hubert

* Meyer does an excellent job of conveying life in Boston in 1803, particularly the rights, or lack thereof, of women. Jacky's headstrong certainty that she's in control and her cocky first-person account make her a memorable heroine. The narrative is full of lecherous men, and Jacky herself is free in her ways. This fact and the sometimes-strong language make this book more appropriate for older readers. Sure to please fans of the first title, this adventure-packed historical novel also stands on its own. --School Library Journal


Connections

* Expert from Curse of the Bloody Tattoo

It was a hard comin' I had of it, that's for sure. It was hard enough comin' up from the brig, the cell down below where they had me kept these past few weeks, squintin' into the light to see all of the dear Dolphin's sailors lined up along the spars of the great masts and in other parts of the riggin', all four hundred of 'em, bless 'em, my mates for the past year and a half, all cheerin' and hallooin' and wavin' me off. 

It was hard, too, walkin' across to the quarterdeck, where the officers were all pulled up in their fancy uniforms and where the midshipmen and side boys made two rows for me to walk between on my way off the ship, and there's Jaimy all straight and all beautiful in his new midshipman's uniform, and there's Davy and Tink and Willy, the boys of the Brotherhood to which I so lately belonged, and there's my dear sea-dad Liam lookin' as proud as any father. The Bo'sun's Mate puts his pipe to his lips and starts the warble to pipe me off the Dolphin, my sweet and only home, and I start down between their ranks, but I stop in front of Jaimy and I look at the Captain and I pleads with my teary eyes. The Captain smiles and nods and I fling my arms around Jaimy's neck and kiss him one last time, oh yes I do, and the men cheer all the louder for it, but it was short, oh so short, for too soon my arm is taken and I have to let go of Jaimy, but before I do I feel him press something into my hand and I look down and see that it's a letter. 

Then I'm led away down the gangway, but I keep my eyes on Jaimy's eyes and my hand clutched around his letter as the Professor hands me up into the carriage that's waitin' at the foot of the gangway. I keeps my eyes on Jaimy as the horses are started and we clatter away, and I rutch around in my seat and stick my head out the window to keep my blurry eyes on him but it's too far away now for me to see his eyes, just him standin' there at the rail lookin' after me, and then the coach goes around a corner and that's all. He's there, and then he's not.That was the hardest of all. I put my fingertips to my lips where his have just been and I wonder when they will again touch me in that place. If ever...Oh, Jaimy, I worry about you so much 'cause the war's on again with Napolon and all it takes is one angry cannonball, and oh, God, please.

I leave off what has up to now been fairly gentle weeping and turn to full scale, chest heavin', eyes squeezed shut, open mouth bawlin'."Well," says Professor Tilden, sittin' across from me, "you certainly have made a spectacle of yourself today, I must say."

...don't care don't care don't care don't care...

"You should compose yourself now, Miss. The school is not a far ride from the harbor. Here," he says, handing me a handkerchief, "dry your eyes."The Professor is taking me to the Lawson Peabody School for Young Girls, which is where they decided to dump me after that day on the beach when my grand Deception was blown out of the water for good and ever...


* Lots of fun on this Bloody Jack website, even some out-takes!

* Of course you want to read the whole series.

Bloody Jack Adventures
1. Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary 'Jacky' Faber, Ship's Boy (2002)
2. Curse of the Blue Tatoo: Being an Account of the Misadventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman And Fine Lady (2004)
3. Under the Jolly Roger: Being an Account of the Further Nautical Adventures of Jacky Faber (2005)
4. In the Belly of the Bloodhound: Being an Account of a Particularly Peculiar Adventure in the Life of Jacky Faber (2006)
5. Mississippi Jack: Being an Account of the Further Waterborne Adventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman, Fine Lady, And Lily of the West (2007)
6. My Bonny Light Horseman (2008)
7. Rapture of the Deep (2009)
8. The Wake of the Lorelei Lee (2010)