Cruise Ship Kid: Thief At Sea!

Cruise Ship Kid: Thief At Sea! is a funny yet heartwarming story of Silver, a young girl navigating life and friendship on board a cruise ship, inspired by Emma Swan's own childhood experience. Told in the popular diary format, but with an interactive twist, this book is very accessible. The text is broken up by brilliant illustrations by Katie Saunders, with places for the reader to doodle, answer daft quiz questions, and keep track of your own thoughts. Thankfully, we are told at the beginning that we can write in the book, but NOT if it's borrowed! Phew! One relieved librarian here!

Silver has a great group of friends, but they are all aged 80+. She longs to make a friend her own age, but this is tricky when kids come and go on short holidays. Silver lacks confidence to interact with children since a previous friendship ended in heartbreak, and she is far more comfortable chatting to the grown ups that surround her. But Silver is determined to get a 'BFF'.

I love Silver's voice, which I think lots of kids will really relate to. She speaks to the reader like a friend and says mostly whatever comes into her head. Her personality is infectious and really comes across through her diary entries and the questions she asks us. Her 'in-between-my-ears' voice is wonderful and it's great that we have access to those inner thoughts, even when she doesn't vocalise them to her friends. We travel with Silver, and she presents us with facts and maps about places she visits such as Barcelona and Venice (cleverly disguised as part of the story and never overtly teachy). We gain an insight into a very different way of life from us 'land people' and Silver teaches us some 'Sea People words'!

It is a lovely touch to have intergenerational friendships portrayed in the book, which is quite rare in children's fiction. Wonderful characters make up 'The Gang', Silver's over 80s friendship group who live onboard. The characters are all multi-faceted, well developed and believable, especially Tommy and Sylvia who are based on the author's own beloved grandparents. At first Silver is embarrassed to be hanging around with old people, and worries her potential BFF, Yana, won't think she is cool. Silver lies to herself and ignores the feeling that Yana isn't actually a very good friend, so intent is she on impressing Yana. She forgets what is important to her, how she would normally behave, and what the ship rules are. After focusing so much on making a 'BFF', no matter what the cost, Silver realises how her behaviour has hurt others, and reaches a happy balance. Even the not-so-nice Yana has character development along the way.

There are lessons learnt by everyone, including Silver's mum and by the kids who are unkind at the beginning. The change in Silver throughout the book is a gradual one, and I think the nuances of her struggle with how to behave is shown brilliantly. Although done subtly, the book shows the way some people still discriminate against class and accents. Silver speaks in a Northern accent and at first tries to change her accent to be 'more posh'.

The book could prompt some really great discussion points. We see the poor treatment of cabin crew staff Pedru, when he is accused of stealing two very valuable watches. In trying to solve the case, Silver sticks up for Pedru and eventually her loyalty to him wins out over her desire to be liked. She cannot let Pedru lose everything when she believes he is innocent. There’s a very interesting look at how staff are treated and the unfairness of it (although this is very lightly touched upon and kids can pick up on it or let it go over their heads!).

This humorous story of friendship and life at sea has a mystery to solve and really engages the reader with its many interactive elements. I would highly recommend this for readers age 7+ and think it would be great as a class read. I am really excited to Join Silver for her next journey aboard the Potentia for more high seas hijinks! Warning: be prepared to want to go on a cruise after reading this!

384 pages / Reviewed by Laura Richards, librarian

Suggested Reading Age 7+