A New Beginning

Today, I even got to go up to the crow's-nest!

I've been helping the sailors with the lines and sails.

Gus is showing me how to use the stars to figure out which direction we are sailing.

Gus took me up on the deck and showed me the ropes- except they aren't ropes after all.

Gus

James Oglethorpe

Mercy

Mercy's father

chance

sound

surprise

trip

The city was too crowded and noisy.

They wanted to move to a bigger house.

It was difficult for her father to find a job.

They were joining other family members.

Believe in yourself.

Do not be afraid to make a new start.

Telling the truth can be its own reward.

If you don't learn from the past, you will repeat old mistakes.

by showing how brave Mercy is

by describing the setting in detail

by telling where the family will settle

by explaining why the family left London

I think there are too many of us.

The sailors don't care much for the passengers.

He just laughed and said Gus was kidding with me.

So my father jumped at the opportunity to take his skills to a new country.

Mercy gets seasick.

Her father builds shelves for the cook in the galley.

Gus tells her there are huge snakes and mosquitoes in America.

A ten-year-old boy climbs up to the crow's-nest to look at the ocean.

She becomes less afraid of the future.

She becomes more angry at her father.

She becomes more shy around other people.

She becomes less sure that she can take care of herself.

The land is covered with wooden houses.

The city is new, but already very crowded.

There are no people or animals waiting to attack.

There are huge insects and snakes hiding in the bushes.