Molly Waldo!

Folk art and archival voices carry readers on a historical sea voyage with the self-reliant fishermen who lived and died in search of cod. Sign-on to the fishing schooner Fides with Jon Bowen—age sixteen. Learn to fish with Old Orne who survived the Great Gale. Climb up the mast with daredevil Bart who fears nothing. Stand accused of stealing from a dead man before Captain Perry. For adults, young and old, Molly Waldo! is a visual and verbal portrayal of a harsh reality that was early New England life – a reality lived with courage, trust and honor.

Imagine leaving home at the age of 16 to earn your living on the tempestuous North Atlantic. Aboard a 60-foot schooner with a six-man crew, you will sail for 12 days to reach the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. On those distant fishing grounds, you must brave the sea alone in a 15-foot dory to search for the prize . . . cod! No engine, no electricity, no cell phone, no GPS. To survive, you must rely solely on your shipmates and yourself. Many fishermen from your town never return home. Will you, like your grandfather, drown in a storm? Get lost in the fog? Be run down by a steamship? Be swept overboard? This is no imaginary life. This was the reality of many men and boys from New England seaports in the 1800s. Molly Waldo! was inspired by the story-telling art of J.O.J. Frost, who went to the Grand Banks in 1868, at the age of 16. When he was 70, he painted his memories on odd pieces of wood. The Frost paintings featured in this book are in The Marblehead Museum and Historical Society (along with logs, letters, and newspaper clippings that preserve the accounts of Marblehead fishermen). The adventures of those seamen are adapted in this tale of a young man’s first voyage to the Banks. “Molly Waldo” was the joyful shout exchanged when vessels from Marblehead met on the fishing grounds. Townsmen rejoiced to see familiar faces, swap yarns, and share messages from home. Now readers can join the courageous, self-reliant men who were the bedrock of one New England town. Molly Waldo! Table of Contents Foreword by Pam Peterson, Director of the Marblehead Museum and Historical Society Map of the Grand Banks and North Atlantic Who’s Who in Molly Waldo! Chapter 1: Signing On (August 1868) Chapter 2: The Gilt Rooster Chapter 3: Readying the Fides Chapter 4: Off for the Banks Chapter 5: Ganging the Hooks Chapter 6: Handlining with Old Orne Chapter 7: Becoming a Blooded Banker Chapter 8: September Gale Chapter 9: The Day Nothing Would Bite Chapter 10: Blizzard on the Banks Chapter 11: For Home with a Full Fare Glossary Recipe for “Joe Froggers” Bibliography List of Paintings by J.O.J. Frost Acknowledgments About the Authors

Priscilla L. Moulton championed the authors and illustrators of children’s books throughout her professional career: developing school libraries, organizing events to promote children’s books, reviewing for the Horn Book Magazine, and publishing Phaedrus (an international journal on children’s literature). In leadership positions in the American Library Association, Priscilla participated in selecting several Newbery and Caldecott Medal winners. In 1959, as a new resident of Marblehead, Massachusetts, Priscilla first saw the paintings of J.O.J. Frost hanging in the historical society’s Lee Mansion. Struck by their storytelling power, she began to envision a book about Marblehead’s history as a fishing community. Her research for that purpose became the foundation for Molly Waldo! This book for all ages pays tribute to an American historian and artist, as well as to the place that became home for the Moulton family.