Frederick Marryat was almost fifty and had long completed the work for which he must have imagined he would be remembered when he wrote his first book for children, Masterman Ready (1841-1842). Following a distinguished career of more than twenty years in the Royal Navy, Marryat had been editor and proprietor of a successful magazine and produced many well-received novels for adults. He called his children's books "my little income," regarding them as the product of his failing creative powers; they comprise half of his last ten novels. Nonetheless, the warmth of the immediate critical reception of Masterman Ready led Marryat to return to writing for children with The Settlers in Canada (1844) and The Mission; or, Scenes in Africa (1845)--both, like Masterman Ready, subtitled "Written for Young People." Marryat's other "young people's" books were The Children of the New Forest (1847) and The Little Savage (1848-1849), finished after the...