Kirkus Reviews
It's 1498, and 15-year-old Sebastian Cabot is ready for adventure. His father is the famous John Cabot, out on his second voyage to find a western route to Asia. He found New Found Land on his previous venture, but, unlike Columbus, he knows this is not Asia. Sebastian is tired of being left behind and living in his father's shadow. But where is his father? Why has he been gone so long? Has he been lost at sea? Garfield's ambitious work for older readers works on several levels: John Cabot's voyage is told through letters from his son Sancio to Sebastian; Sebastian's life in Bristol with his mother is told in a third-person narrative; and the narrative jumps back and forth in time to fill in the historical and scientific context for the elder Cabot's explorations. Though the storyline is sometimes lost in the exposition, this is a superb account of the early explorations of a new world. Dedicated readers and history buffs will find rewarding sailing here. (map, acknowledgments, glossary, list of historical figures)