September 30, 2025 by Pajama Press
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central
In 1892, Kartini is attending a Dutch school in Jepara, Java, in the then Dutch East Indies. When she turns 12, however, Mother, her father's second wife, requires that she leaves school and begin a period of isolation that is intended to make her a more desirable wife. She must also learn to act like a lady and turn her attention to embroidery and other quiet pursuits. Kartini misses her best friend, Lesty, who has returned to Amsterdam after her father's position in Java is finished. Kartini's mother, Ma, has been relegated to a smaller home because she was not "Raden Ayu" like Mother, and so lost her position in the household. Kartini would much rather study, and is jealous that her brothers are sent to boarding school and then to high education in the Netherlands, and doesn't understand why she can't have the same experience. She does get permission from her father to correspond with Lesty, so finds out that women in other parts of the world have more opportunities than she is allowed. She also talks to two of the maids her age in the household, Yanti and Uka, and helps them solve a mystery involving an invitation from the South Sea Starling to travel the world with her importing business. Kartini's father is impressed with her writing, and allows her to meet a Dutch journalist, who encourages her writing. When it seems likely that there might be a marriage arranged for her very soon, Kartini musters the courage to ask for more freedom and an education more similar to that which her brothers received. This story is based on the real life Raden Adjeng Kartini who is credited with changing the way that women and girls were treated in Indonesia.
Readers who enjoyed Kadarusman's modern day Music for Tigers or Girl of the Southern Sea will find this look into late 19th century women's history fascinating. My grandmother was born in the US 1893, and didn't get to vote until she was 27, but things were so much different for women of a higher social status in Indonesia. Not being allowed to leave the house or see anyone outside of the family without special permission? Modern readers will be astonished. I loved that Kartini wanted to practice her Dutch, write to her friend, and investigate so many aspects of life outside the walls of her otherwise privileged existence.
Much of this book is in an epistolographic format, but the publisher was smart enough to realize that few people read cursive these days, so both Kartini and Lesty's letters are in different print fonts.
The details of both the weather and environment in Java and the details of daily life are stunning. At the end of the book, there are picture of Kartini and her family, and more information about the Dutch colonization of Indonesia that will probably be new information to most readers.
I love to read about every day life in other time periods and other places in the world, and Seabird will be perfect for readers who enjoyed Saeed's Amal Unbound, Venkatraman's A Bridge Home, or Huang's Singing Yellow Sail: A Memoir of an Only Child in China.
In 1892, Kartini is attending a Dutch school in Jepara, Java, in the then Dutch East Indies. When she turns 12, however, Mother, her father's second wife, requires that she leaves school and begin a period of isolation that is intended to make her a more desirable wife. She must also learn to act like a lady and turn her attention to embroidery and other quiet pursuits. Kartini misses her best friend, Lesty, who has returned to Amsterdam after her father's position in Java is finished. Kartini's mother, Ma, has been relegated to a smaller home because she was not "Raden Ayu" like Mother, and so lost her position in the household. Kartini would much rather study, and is jealous that her brothers are sent to boarding school and then to high education in the Netherlands, and doesn't understand why she can't have the same experience. She does get permission from her father to correspond with Lesty, so finds out that women in other parts of the world have more opportunities than she is allowed. She also talks to two of the maids her age in the household, Yanti and Uka, and helps them solve a mystery involving an invitation from the South Sea Starling to travel the world with her importing business. Kartini's father is impressed with her writing, and allows her to meet a Dutch journalist, who encourages her writing. When it seems likely that there might be a marriage arranged for her very soon, Kartini musters the courage to ask for more freedom and an education more similar to that which her brothers received. This story is based on the real life Raden Adjeng Kartini who is credited with changing the way that women and girls were treated in Indonesia.
Readers who enjoyed Kadarusman's modern day Music for Tigers or Girl of the Southern Sea will find this look into late 19th century women's history fascinating. My grandmother was born in the US 1893, and didn't get to vote until she was 27, but things were so much different for women of a higher social status in Indonesia. Not being allowed to leave the house or see anyone outside of the family without special permission? Modern readers will be astonished. I loved that Kartini wanted to practice her Dutch, write to her friend, and investigate so many aspects of life outside the walls of her otherwise privileged existence.
Much of this book is in an epistolographic format, but the publisher was smart enough to realize that few people read cursive these days, so both Kartini and Lesty's letters are in different print fonts.
The details of both the weather and environment in Java and the details of daily life are stunning. At the end of the book, there are picture of Kartini and her family, and more information about the Dutch colonization of Indonesia that will probably be new information to most readers.
I love to read about every day life in other time periods and other places in the world, and Seabird will be perfect for readers who enjoyed Saeed's Amal Unbound, Venkatraman's A Bridge Home, or Huang's Singing Yellow Sail: A Memoir of an Only Child in China.
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