This entertaining novel is presented in an older format, to be consistent with the style of the period in which it is set - the 1870's - with two columns of print on a page and lots (37) of well-drawn, full-page black and white illustrations that greatly add to the charm of the story.

Ralph Nading Hill worked for three years on the Ticonderoga, the last of the side-wheel steamers that ran between New York and Vermont on Lake Champlain. He was an accomplished nonfiction writer, Vermont historian and preservationist. I knew very little about this part of history and the story really brought to life, for me, the period, the area and the part the side-wheel steamboat played in this region.

The Voyages of Brian Seaworthy is Hill’s fictional story of a 15-year-old boy whose father’s death makes him the owner of a steamboat company beset with financial problems. It’s a great adventure – and it includes a tug of war between a steamboat and a locomotive, a fraudulent uncle, a crooked captain and a good friend. ( )