''Secrets at Sea'' is a 2011 children's novel written by Newbery medalist Richard Peck and illustrated by award-winning artist

Kelly Murphy Kelly Murphy is an American author, illustrator and educator. She is based in Providence, Rhode Island. Early life Murphy was born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in southeastern Massachusetts. She attended the Rhode Island School of Design ( ...

. It is a tale of a family of mice stowaways on an adventurous ship's journey, set in the late 19th century.

Plot

The Story of the four mice and their journey on a ship.

Characters

* Helena – The protagonist character, is the oldest mouse. * Lamont * Camilla * Olive * Duchess of Cheddar Gorge * Nigel * Mrs. Flora * Mr. Floyd * Lord Sebastian Sandown * Mr. and Mrs. Cranston * Mother and Father * Katinka Van Tassel Dutch * Vicky * Alice * Mrs. Flint * Mona * Mrs. Minture * Gideon McSorley * Barn * Aunt Fannie Fanimore * Elena * Cecil * Queen Victoria * Lord Peter * Lady Augusta Drear * Nanny Pratt * Little Lord Sandown * The Mouse Queen

Reception

''Secrets at Sea'' has received widespread acclaim and was featured on best books of the year lists by the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

and

People Magazine ''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC (company), IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''Peopl ...

. Additionally, the artwork for Secrets at Sea received Gold Medals from the

Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles The Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles (SILA) was founded in 1953 by a group of Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that ...

, as well as distinction from the

Society of Illustrators The Society of Illustrators (SoI) is a professional society based in New York City. It was founded in 1901 to promote the art of illustration and, since 1959, has held an annual exhibition. Since absorbing the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (M ...

in New York.

Awards

Best of lists

2011 Notable Children's Books, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''
2011 Best Books for Children, ''

''
2011 Ten Best Books for Children, ''

People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...

'' magazine

Starred reviews

2011 Starred Review, ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

''
2011 Starred Review, ''

The Horn Book ''The Horn Book Magazine'', founded in Boston in 1924, is the oldest bimonthly magazine dedicated to reviewing children's literature. It began as a "suggestive purchase list" prepared by Bertha Mahony and Elinor Whitney Field, proprietors of t ...

'' magazine
2011 Starred Review, ''

Illustration competitions

2012 Original Art Show,

2013 Gold Medal (Children's Market Category),

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://kelmurphy.com/secrets-at-sea.html, Secrets At Sea page on Kelly Murphy's official website 2011 American novels 2011 children's books American children's novels American young adult novels Children's books set in the 19th century Children's historical novels Children's novels about mice and rats Dial Press books Novels about stowaways