5 h 17 minAudiobook10 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 5 h 17 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if crossing the ocean means learning to see the world all over again?
In Jacob Abbott's Rollo on the Atlantic, a curious boy leaves familiar surroundings for his first ocean crossing. Life aboard a ship gives Rollo a new world to observe. What he sees raises questions, and the journey becomes much more than a way to reach another place.
His uncle George offers guidance, helping turn observation into understanding. Across the Atlantic, distance, motion, and life shared aboard a vessel make familiar habits feel different. The ocean becomes a large, sometimes uncomfortable classroom, where practical discoveries go hand in hand with lessons in personal conduct.
What you’ll discover
- A curious young traveler Follow Rollo as unfamiliar surroundings give his desire to understand a fresh direction.
- Life aboard a ship Discover how a shared vessel makes an ocean crossing different from travel on land.
- An uncle's steady guidance See how uncle George connects the things Rollo notices with explanations he can grasp.
- The Atlantic as classroom Explore distance and motion through a journey that makes practical learning part of daily life.
- Travel that teaches Find an old-fashioned adventure where discovering the world also means learning how to behave.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you like voyages, ships and how things work, or if a warm, gentle tale about two children finding their feet among strangers sounds good to you.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A Letter Sends Two Children Across the Sea
- A Lost Trunk Leaves Them Alone
- The Ship Teaches Rollo Its Ways
- Kind Strangers Fill the Empty Places
- A Bird, a Bow, and a Storm
- A Lottery, Lessons, and Abbott's Voice
Who’s who
- RolloA twelve-year-old boy eager to be treated like a man, who promises to take care of himself and his cousin on the voyage.
- JaneRollo's younger cousin, adopted by the Holidays, who is timid about the trip and refuses to leave her kitten Tiger behind.
- Mr. GeorgeRollo's young uncle, who arranges the passage and leaves the children with a simple rule for travelers when a mishap separates them.
- MariaA plain, serious young woman who notices the children and takes them under her wing for the voyage.
- Hilbert LivingstonA bold, careless boy with a bow and arrows, who wants to win the ship's lottery and cares little for his sick mother's wishes.
- The SurgeonThe ship's friendly doctor, who explains bells, sailors' jokes and shipboard manners to Rollo.
- Mr. ChauncyMaria's gentle brother, going to Europe for his health, who dislikes gambling and carries the government dispatches.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 5 h 17 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 10 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Rollo en el Atlántico
by Jacob Abbott · 1853
Twelve-year-old Rollo and his cousin Jane cross the Atlantic on a steamer with no grown-up to look after them.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Rollo on the Atlantic is a story for young readers by Jacob Abbott, the American author who filled a whole series of books with a boy named Rollo. Here Rollo is twelve, and he must cross the ocean to Europe on a steamship with his cousin Jane, who is younger.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A Letter Sends Two Children Across the Sea
The story opens with a puzzle. How do two children come to cross the Atlantic with no adult to watch over them? Rollo's father and mother have gone to Europe for the sake of Mr. Holiday's health, and they have taken Rollo's younger brother Nathan, whom everyone calls Thanny. A year later Mr. Holiday is worse, and his doctor says he cannot travel home before September, perhaps not before spring.
Mrs. Holiday misses her other children, especially little Jane, whom she loves as if she were her own daughter. She hardly dares to suggest that they come out alone. Her husband is surprised and pleased, and he says that the cost does not matter. He writes to Rollo's uncle George, a young man, and asks him to book passage, to find a passenger who will look after the children, and to place them in the care of a chambermaid.
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What is Rollo on the Atlantic about?
It tells how twelve-year-old Rollo and his cousin Jane cross the Atlantic on a steamer to join their parents in England. On the way they meet kind helpers, learn how a ship works, and face a storm.
Who is Jane, and why does she carry a cage?
Jane is Rollo's younger cousin, adopted by the Holidays. She calls her spotted kitten Tiger and keeps her in an old canary cage, so the cage goes with them everywhere on the voyage.
What do the ship's bells mean in the book?
The bells tell time at sea. Two strokes mark an hour and a single stroke marks the half hour, and eight bells mark the changes of watch and the main meals of the day.
The author
Jacob Abbott
1803–1879 · American children's writer
Jacob Abbott was an American writer born in Hallowell, Maine, in 1803. He wrote children's books, including the Rollo series, during the nineteenth century. He also worked as a teacher and minister and founded a school in Boston. He later lived in Farmington, Maine, where he died in 1879.
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