by: Dell Smith Klein

Dancing Word Reviewer

 

Title: Sinking the Dayspring--John Paton

Author: Dave and Neta Jackson

Publisher: Bethany House Publishers

ISBN: 0-764-22268-6

Genre: Inspirational/Juvenile/Fiction

 

Kevin Gilmore works at the docks to help his widowed mother. The docks are a dangerous place for a boy who doesn't know how to swim.

 

Long ago, Kevin and his mother had purchased shares in a missionary ship called the Dayspring. The ship, purchased by money derived from shares sold to children becomes a reality. Kevin sees the ship, and the missionary, John G. Paton, on the dock near his home.

 

When his mother dies, a desperate Kevin takes to the seas aboard the Dayspring. The ship visits south seas islands carrying supplies to missionaries.

 

Kevin, a non-swimmer, is almost drowned on one trip. His fear of drowning increases. In time the Dayspring is taken over by slave traders and Kevin must make a decision, a decision that may even mean his death by drowning. He holds onto one thought: Can he trust God to care for him.

 

The authors, Dave and Neta Jackson, based Sinking of the Dayspring on information about the missionary John G. Paton, who grew up in Scotland and made his way to the New Hebredies, a group of islands about 1500 miles from Australia. Paton actually did raise money for the Dayspring by selling shares to thousands of children.

 

The ship sailed to New Hebredies in 1865. After a hurricane wrecked the ship in 1873, French slavers salvaged her. A second storm destroyed the ship. Though a Dayspring II and later a Dayspring III continued to carry supplies to missionaries in the region.

 

Scattered throughout Sinking of the Dayspring story illustrator Anne Gavitt has provided pencil drawings. Some are small--a barrel, a Bible, a hammock--others are half or full page.

 

The cover design and illustration by Catherine Reishus McLaughlin shows young Kevin, his leather case containing his shares in the Dayspring around his neck, frantically hacking away at the anchor that holds the Dayspring in place. The fear in the boys face, the rolling deck, the angry seas and dark clouds are all portrayed in a way that will cause young readers to reach for this book.

 

Those interested in the history of missions will appreciate Sinking of the Dayspring. The book provides action and adventure and a good look at early missions activity in Australia and the South Seas.