Stowaway - Hardcover

Hesse, Karen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689839871 ISBN 13: 9780689839870

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2000

Synopsis

In the summer of 1768, an eleven-year-old butcher's apprentice named Nicholas Young climbed aboard a ship, hid himself from captain and crew, and waited to be carried far away from the life he hated in London.
Nick didn't know it, but the ship he chose -- H.M.S. Endeavour -- was bound for an astonishing adventure. Captained by James Cook, Endeavour was on a secret mission to discover an unknown continent at the bottom of the globe. During his three-year voyage, Nick encountered hardship and was awed by new discoveries; he weathered danger and proved himself brave when disaster struck; he earned the respect and trust of the gentlemen on board; he made a friend for life. And he made history.
An eleven-year-old boy named Nicholas Young really did stow away on Cook's Endeavour. Based on exhaustive historical research and illustrated with evocative drawings by Robert Andrew Parker, Stowaway is Newbery winner Karen Hesse's extraordinary fictional account of the real Nicholas's journey.

About this title

Review

To 11-year-old Nicholas Young, the tall masts of the exploratory ship Endeavour look like an answer to his fervent prayers. On the run from his demanding father and the cruel butcher who employed him, Nick finds adventure beyond his wildest imaginings when he stows away on the ship of legendary Captain James Cook. Once he is discovered and put to work, Nick becomes party to some amazing sights. He meets indigenous natives of Tahiti, New Zealand, and Australia, wonders at the sight of kangaroos, and shudders with horror when confronted with cannibalism. Nick survives a hurricane, a near shipwreck on the Great Barrier Reef, and a deadly bout with typhoid to become one of the few original crew members to successfully circumnavigate the globe with Cook and arrive safely back in England. He notes in his worn journal shortly before sighting his homeland's shore: "We have truly led the way, charting the path for all who come after. I don't know I shall ever feel so again as I feel now. That any of us shall."

Newbery Medal-winning Karen Hesse's story is based on actual Endeavour stowaway Nicholas Young, about whom little is known. Using the real 1768 diaries of Captain Cook and shipboard naturalist Joseph Banks, Hesse has changed Young from a forgotten footnote into a living, breathing person with red hair and a penchant for pork chops. So authentic you can feel the sea spray, this fine fictionalized diary is a nautical treasure for landlubbers young and old. (Ages 10 and older) --Jennifer Hubert

From the Inside Flap

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8 hours 30 minutes, 6 cassettes

In 1767, 11-year-old Nicholas Young stowed away on Captain James Cook's "Endeavour." Cook's three-year mission was secret: he was charged by the British Navy to search for a lost continent, believed to be located between the southern tip of South America and New Zealand. Young's journal charts the voyage and with every port of call a new adventure awaits. This is the story of a great voyage of discovery seen through the eyes of a boy who was actually there.

Edition details

• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0689839871
• ISBN 13: 9780689839870
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 328
• Illustrator: Prato Rodica, Parker Robert Andrew