Jade

I read and re-read Sally Watson books repeatedly as a preteen and teenager. This particular book holds up remarkably well some 35 years later! Sally created beleiveable heroines in the process of self- discovery, with the closest thing I had encountered to my own developing attitudes. This was my first recognition that there was at least one human being who shared the same sense of outrage and confusion about what to do about social inequities, and who chose to act on her feelings! This book is back in print and can be purchased through Image Cascade, and best of all, Sally remains alive and well and living in California!

Jade is now available from ImageCascade Publishing. New republication! A must read for readers of historical fiction! Sally Watson has a gift for presenting girls as feisty, strong-willed characters. Excellent role models for young readers, ages 10 to 15. Readers must also read Ms. Watson's Highland Rebel, Mistress Malapert, Lark, The Hornet's Nest.

What a wonderful book! I read this one over and over when I was a kid, and now I want to read it to my 5th grade students, as we study the Colonies and the Revolution. I was amazed to find Jade listed as a rare book, and searched for it for 4 years, until I finally struck pay dirt.Jade struggles to be free of the constraints of her gender and class, and does that with flair and courage. The reader has an inside look at pirates, and gets to know Anne Bonney and Mary Read, both famous female pirates.Jade's code of honor, and behavior, gives modern kids something to work towards. She thinks of things larger, and more important than herself, and takes the chances needed to change.

Unfortunately, this book is out of print, but as a child it was one of my favorite books, and I read it many, many many times. Jade is a colonial era 17 year old girl from an aristocratic family. She refuses to be constrained by the conventions of her time and learns fencing, frees slaves, and becomes a pirate. Her personal moral code is fascinating and Jade strikes a blow for women and for the subjugated. Its a rollicking adventure story with a wonderful female heroine.

Sally Watson creates a feisty and believable heroine who rebels against cultural standards which expect her to remain a modest and meek girl and make a good marriage. Jade, however, has other ideas. She secretly learns to fence, and sets free the fox caught by the son of an acquaintance. When she speaks her mind to her father, he beats her, and her mother and sister sigh. Finally her parents give up and send her by ship to her aunt and uncle in the west Indies. Jade shocks them as well, but when she sees a slave at the market who seems wild and unbending, she convinces her uncle to buy her, and they become fast friends. Jade rebels against her aunt and uncle as she did against her parents, so when there's an outbreak of disease, they take the chance to send her home. The boat they send her on is a slave ship... And the first mate is a young hook-nosed cynical man who expresses contempt for fear, slaves, and women. But when Jade gets an opportunity to free the slaves on board, she finds that someone has already loosened the hatch and is working on the same plan as she. Jade is stabbed in the shoulder after the slaves are discovered escaping, and later is discovered... And flogged... But the first mate is also revealed as having freed the slaves, and is flogged as well. During the lashing, pirates attack, and Jade is rescued -- to become a pirate herself. An exciting and romantic adventure, for all ages.