The Glorious Adventures of the Sunshine Queen
In this Junior Library Guild selection, Geraldine McCaughrean brings to life the showboats of the Missouri River. Twelve-year-old Cissy Sissney and her classmates head out of town when a diphtheria epidemic closes their school. They travel with their teacher to the Bright Lights Theater Company, where one of their former teachers is now performing. They find the theater company inhabiting a foundered steamship. There the great adventures begin!
The Glorious Adventures of the Sunshine Queen is a rip-roaring middle grade adventure story complete with pirates, gamblers, lawmen, and a host of unique performers. Their unpredictable journey downriver will surprise and captivate. McCaughrean’s colloquial and historic language will challenge young readers, who will add words like “spackfacious” and “obdurately” to their vocabulary. Readers will undoubtedly find themselves comparing the rich, well-developed characters of Cissy, Kookie Warboys, and Miss Loucien with Twain’s Huck Finn and Becky Thatcher.
