Jeremy Gates and the Magic Key

Janet Craig James

6 X 9 inches, 104 pages

THE TIME: 1750. THE PLACE: HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA. "When a man can read and write, he has the magic key. He can become anything he wants—" says old-country schoolmaster Jonas Wakefield to illiterate, twelve-year-old, Jeremy Gates.

Jeremy's quest for learning leads to many exciting adventures. He acquires a new friend, Pug. He is kidnapped and put aboard the frigate Molly-O, while Pug sneaks aboard as a stowaway. A storm forces the boat to dock at Boston and Jeremy and Pug, now on the run, meet Elizabeth Bushell and her father, publishers of a newspaper there. It was their partner, Bartholomew Green, who had set up a printing press in Halifax but died before he could establish the enterprise.

Jeremy's and Elizabeth's dreams mesh as he sees the magic key coming within his reach. He also knows he will be instrumental in helping to print the new colony's first newspaper, The Halifax Gazette.


This highly successful historical novel became a Canadian Children's Book Centre Choice for 1988. Check out these other delightful novels, My Name is Louis and You Don't Mess With Mozart, also by Janet Craig James.

Janet Craig James

Author

Janet Craig James lives and writes in Gros Cap, Ontario.