As much as I enjoyed Cornelia Meigs’ 1922 honor (The Windy Hill) this one didn’t have quite the same effect. I still like her writing style, but I think it’s better suited for younger characters. She doesn't age them convincingly... or something. This book is centered around older teenagers, and I never got particularly attached to them. The action was good and the story was somewhat compelling. However, if I don’t fall for the characters and their plight, then the story is kind of a wash. It falls in that "eh" range for me.

Edit: I noticed some criticisms of racism and sexism against this book, and wanted to say I didn't get that feeling. (Granted, I may have missed something while I was "eh"ing through.) I wouldn't call the book completely clear of sexism or racism, but Cornelia Meigs is pretty good at making her characters have opinions, and keeping the narrator tone neutral. The characters are travelling across the world, and need adventure. They encounter villains of different races and friends of different races. Indians (of India) are the main bad guys before they finally hit China. I think that's more due to geography and trying to create some action. The point of the book is that these plucky teenagers want to prove themselves as a relevant force to the Chinese to save the shipyard, and the Chinese are the cool kids on the block. I didn’t see anything specific in the way that other early Newbery books have bugged me. As for sexism… well, I was pleased with how opinionated (borderline annoying, even) the few women characters were. No obedience here. That suited me fine for a book staged in the 1700s. ( )

4.5 stars. ( )

The second of Cornelia Meigs' children's novels to be selected as a Newbery Honor Book, following upon her 1922 publication, The Windy Hill, (Meigs also won the Newbery Medal itself, for her 1933 children's biography of Louisa May Alcott, Invincible Louisa) Clearing Weather is an adventure story centered upon the Massachusetts town of Branscomb, and the fortunes of the ship-building Drury family in the early years of American independence. Like a number of previous Newbery titles - Charles Boardman Hawes' The Great Quest and The Dark Frigate, Padraic Colum's The Voyagers: Being Legends and Romances of Atlantic Discovery - sea voyaging plays a prominent part in the story.

With his Uncle Thomas lying gravely ill, and the family shipyards in serious financial trouble, young Nicholas Drury doesn't know where to turn at the beginning of Clearing Weather. But an unexpected visit from a French radical and his young American companion provide him with the assistance and confidence he needs to begin building anew, while also opening his eyes to the wider political ramifications of New England's stagnating trade. Enlisting the aid of Branscomb's workers, Nicholas soon launches the Jocasta - a Drury ship to rival them all - with his good friend Michael Slade on board to conduct trade in far ports. But when the Jocasta doesn't return for two years, and no word is heard of her, it begins to look as if he has lost it all...

Although the sea adventure is not really one of my favorite genres, I think Meigs' story is engaging enough, and has sufficient historical interest to hold the reader's attention. I was particularly struck by her depiction of the insecurity and chaos that reigned, in the early days of American independence, before the Constitution had been adopted, or any definitive form of government decided upon. Unfortunately, whatever pleasure I might have taken in the story was dulled by the frequent instances of racism and anachronistic social content in the text.

It is my habit, when reading a book such as this, to mark any particularly offensive passage with a little slip of paper, in order to return to it later for consideration. Little gems like "The odd fancies of childlike savages do not often linger in the minds of busy men" (about the Indians), or "those half-naked bodies, glistening wet from the fog, the upturned diabolical yellow faces, the long knives ready" (about the Chinese pirates), finally grew so numerous that I gave up. Some of these older titles are worth reading, despite the anachronistic content, but this isn't one of them, and I recommend that all but the determined Newbery completist, or the scholar researching this genre of children's story, forgo it. ( )