I really liked reading "The Girl Who Rowed the Ocean" because it's a fun story about a girl going on an adventure. As soon as I began, I couldn't stop reading it. I liked how the main character loved the ocean and enjoyed rowing. The book asks the reader to try new things and also talks about problems with the environment. There are many great things to love in the world. I really like reading because it lets you see someone else's point of view and what they care about. Lucy is studying the ocean, sea creatures, and the problem of plastic waste. She is making progress towards her goal and becoming more skilled and confident as she learns. The topic of this book is easy to understand and the author gives lots of details. I think anyone would like this book.

I wondered long and hard before writing this review about what I really thought of this book and how to rate it. On the one hand, it was a fascinating way of providing information without making it tedious - on the other, given the factual nature of everything, I was surprised how easily the family and everyone took this plan. I first thought they were humouring her, but it turned out that they were practically on board.
I went back and forth, but once I talk about it in more detail, you will probably understand why I stand where I do.
Lucy has been given homework, which works as a jumping-off point for a slightly crazy idea. She decides to row across the Atlantic Ocean! Her brother has featured in the author's previous book, where he cycled the world. I have not read that one, but I think it sounds equally entertaining.
When she floats her idea at school and at home, she is faced with encouragement and suggestion on how to go about it. She works hard to get ready. All the practical details and issues are discussed, including funding which was quite fascinating in this context.
Then once she sets off, we see her daily and most dangerous days on the water. These chapters are interspersed with the essays written by her classmates for the original Oceans homework. They are doubly invested because they feel connected to Lucy rowing by herself.
All of this information was provided in such a way that I came away much more knowledgeable about the entire process without it feeling like an overloading of facts. This jarred in my head with the idea of a kid being allowed out on her own, given the strict legal rules in the Western world. I know this is a children's book and a great way of getting them interested, but I am not a frequent reader of such books, so I continue to harp on this one thing that bothered me ( I know more fantastical stuff happens with kids' adventures, but at least there it completely sounds fictional).
That said, the topic, the easy language, the details and the author's note at the end giving further context to everything made me pretty confident that it is a book I would recommend for my nieces (and nephews) if they want to try something new.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

This book was such a fun read! I love both the protagonist and the plot. The story is captivating and pulls you in like the tide.

Good read…. Lucy wants to explore the world, and do something daring and difficult. But people laugh at her when she hatches a plan to row across the Atlantic Ocean.
So her family rallies round to help prepare for the journey, loading her boat with supplies for 3,000 miles of rowing. Her school friends follow her from afar, learning about the ocean, its wildlife and pollution.
Alone at sea, Lucy faces seasickness, storms and a very sore bottom, not to mention close encounters with ships and a humpback whale. Yet there are also the joys of wandering seabirds, shooting stars and magical sunsets, as she finds she is capable of more than she ever imagined. Step aboard and join Lucy on her life-changing adventure to become the girl who rowed the ocean.
The ocean-going follow-up to the bestselling The Boy Who Biked the World trilogy.

I am a huge advocate of adults reading middle grade books and I love the ocean so I thought this would be a slam dunk, but I ended up DNF'ing it. It's marketed as middle grade, but it reads much younger than that, which would work well for its correct demographic but for me it was too simplistic. The idea, however, is amazing and the characters are lovely. Definitely one for much younger readers.

I enjoyed experiencing the main character’s passion for the ocean and rowing. There are so many wonderful things in this world to be passionate about and one of the things I love about reading is its ability to let you be inside someone else’s mind and experience their passions.

Lucy had so much to work through in this book and it was satisfying to watch her learn and grow. There were many wonderful themes that would be great for kids to find in their reading.

An exciting adventure story with an interesting heroine that is great for young readers. I will definitely be gifting this to my young cousins.

I loved The Boy Who Biked the World series and was looking forward to this one. I absolutely loved this one too, it was in a similar vein but different enough to not be 'samey'. An appealing storyline, great characters and very well written. Absolute must have for the bookshelf.

My first impression of the book from the catchy title and cover is how a great adventure it is and that I wanted to read it. I am happy that the author published this book despite that two large publishers refused to. The book encourages reader to step out from their comfort zone and also talks about environmental issues, especially ocean. What's more interesting is the assignments of Lucy's classmate. Those are very insightful and creative!

Thank you Netgalley and Lightning Books for the avability of this book.

The Girl Who Rowed the Ocean is a sweet story of a girl who decides to row across the ocean. I know this book is not intended to be overly realistic, but there was a lot about it I struggled with. I imagine it is perfect for the intended audience, but the strenuous and dangerous element of this adventure was hard to see past in combination with her age. When I overlook my qualms, I can see that it is a charming story about a young girl overcoming multiple obstacles to achieve the unthinkable.

Plot - 3
Writing and Editing - 4
Character Development - 4
Personal Bias - 3
Final Score - 3.5

Thank you Net Galley, Alastair Humphreys, BooksGoSocial, and Lightning Books for my advanced copy! My opinions are my own.

Exciting heroine adventure story which will inspire children that they can do anything they put their minds to

This is a fictionalized story of an eleven-year-old girl who rowed across the Atlantic Ocean. While reading this, I felt the author has a very in-depth knowledge about the subjects conveyed in this story. Which made me wonder if the author has done a similar trip himself! When I look it up, it turned out he had. He not only had rowed across the Atlantic Ocean, but interviewed others who had done it, collecting stories of all the things that happen when one is rowing from the UK to Barbados, and combined them into this very interesting, and informative story.What I found enjoyable about the way it was written, was that the extra information wasn’t told from Lucy’s perspective, but by her school friends in a homework assignment style. (for example: the whales that she would meet.)What also helped speed the books timeline along, are the parts where they show diary entries. They describe how she is feeling physically and emotionally. The story has ups and downs, but mostly a lot of beautiful wonder. It truly is a funny, touching and inspiring story. There is a true emphasis on learning; which does not only happen in schools.. I learned so much from this story; the significant impact of the adult’s attitude upon children’s hopes, dream and ambitions. How quickly we pass our own fears and anxieties upon children and are therefore at risk of crushing the children’s ambitions and chaining them. Thank you for this phenomenal read!

The Girl Who Rowed the Ocean is an engagingly written book for young readers and one I would gladly add to my classroom shelf — a story if perseverance worth sharing and talking about.

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I found this book to be fun, informative, and incredibly interesting to read. I also appreciate the fact that the author, who has himself rowed across an ocean, chose to make the main character a girl who embarks on an adventure rather than a boy.

Lucy is a witty daydreamer who is true to age, and capable of inspiring children (male OR female) to live their dreams, however big or small, find the best in all situations, and see the beauty of the world around us. She is supported by her family and friends, and even gains the respect of other adults around her during her journey.

This book contains a mixed media feel, including entries from Lucy’s diary and homework assignments from her classmates, which are cleverly used to provide the reader with extra information regarding the ocean, weather, sea creatures, and other things relevant to Lucy’s journey that would feel bulky in the main text.

Overall, an entertaining and enjoyable middle grade book, which I’m thankful to have received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I read this with a group of children from 5 to 15 and they all enjoyed it. They found it exciting and wanted to know more about the story and the ocean. They all went out afterwards to find out more. You could almost taste the salt on your lips at times. I highly recommend this book.

This is a story about adventure, persistence, and defiance. A girl rowing across the Atlantic ocean! I adored the story, witty writing style, and Lucy’s sheer determination. I could strongly relate with Lucy – I am always looking for my next big goal/adventure! I liked her whole process of getting help from everyone so she could figure out how to embark on this grand adventure, including a sponsorship from her favorite pizza place! This is a great read to kids for teaching the value of determination and hard work. I liked how the book gives some facts and tidbits (through homework) about marine life, first aid, rowing, actual logistics and ocean navigation, and how we can combat pollution in the oceans. This would have been a good recommendation for my local library’s summer reading program – Oceans of Possibilities. I now want to read The Boy Who Biked the World!

I want to talk a little bit about this book I just finished, which is a fictionalized story of an eleven-year-old girl who rowed across the Atlantic Ocean. As I was reading it, I kept saying to myself, the author must have done immense research on this. I almost felt as though the author has done this trip himself.

And I was right, he had. He not only had done it, but interviewed others who had done it, collecting stories of all the things that happen when one is rowing from the UK to Barbados, and combined them into this very interesting, and informative story.

What I like a lot about this, is that when there is an info dump, it isn’t done by Lucy telling us about it, but rather by her school mates writing about it as a homework assignment, such as about the garbage in the ocean, or the whales that she would meet.

The other cool way of moving the story forward, was her journal entries, where she wrote about how she was feeling.

There is humor, there are scary moments, and there is wonder.

The author said he had a hard time selling this to publishers, because it was about a girl, and no one wanted to read an adventure about a girl. It was a great adventure, and I’m glad he went ahead with it.

<em>Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.</em>

Having not read 'The Boy who Biked the World' but heard lots of good things about it I was really excited to read this one. I enjoyed it from start to finish and can see readers aged 7 and up really enjoying it too. The partnership between Lucy and her boat Izzy was really endearing and I like the way the narrative was interspersed with both diary entries and excerpts of report writing from Lucy's classmates. The book carries some important growth-mindset and environmental messages too. I'll be certainly recommending this book to colleagues and pupils at my school and ill be adding other Alastair Humphreys titles to my 'to be read' pile!

I started this book feeling a little unsure. A child rowing across the Atlantic on their own? I mean, come on. But then I suspended my belief, misgivings and overprotective parent hat and ended up loving reading Lucy's adventure. I really couldn't put it down once she set sail. I found the narration at the beginning hard to believe but once Lucy was on her adventure the author's first hand experiences really came through in a way that only someone who has completed such an incredible feat could. The story was inspirational and fascinating. I liked how Lucy's own diary entries from her voyage were interspersed with the narrative, along with examples of homework about oceans from her classmates back at school. This is great book for inspiring adventure, a love of our oceans and a lesson in how anyone can think positive and show true grit & determination to achieve a dream. A good companion to an oceans topic in school for boys and girls alike.