Rinaldi, Ann. Mutiny's daughter.

RINALDI, Ann. Mutiny's daughter. HarperTrophy. 218p. bibliog. c2004. 0-06-441010-2. $5.99. J

To quote the review of the hardcover in KLIATT, March 2004: Fletcher Christian, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Mary Wollstonecraft--these are names readers may not be familiar with, but this story will be an introduction to them. The main character, Mary, is the daughter of Fletcher Christian, born after the mutiny on the Bounty when Christian took refuge on an island in Tahiti and married a native woman. Christian is a criminal because of his role in the mutiny, and must stay in hiding. Rinaldi does a "what if" story here--what if Christian and his little daughter managed to come to England and Mary was passed off as the daughter of Christian's brother and raised by her grandmother?

Then, the story begins as Mary is in adolescence and the family proposes that she attend a school in London run by women devoted to the ideas of Mary Wollstonecraft and the equality of women. The other girls at the school also seem to have irregular backgrounds and they love telling fanciful histories of themselves. One girl, however, unearths the truth that Mary is the daughter of Fletcher Christian and uses that knowledge to blackmail her. Coleridge? Well, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner may be about Mary's father, Fletcher Christian, or so Mary thinks. The plot becomes one of boarding school themes: jealousy among the girls, breaking the rules, and so forth. Added to this is Mary's longing to know her father and about how the two are reunited. Rinaldi knows how to appeal to YA readers, especially those who like historical fiction. Claire Rosser, KLIATT

J--Recommended for junior high school students. The contents are of particular interest to young adolescents and their teachers.