The Stowaway: A Tale of California Pirates

by Kristiana Gregory

Kristiana Gregory's swashbuckling tale of a young boy's encounter with a true pirate is being repackaged with a new cover. This high seas adventure is full of historic facts and nefarious characters.

The year is 1818, and the coastal village of Monterey, California, is a peaceful home for 11-year-old Carlito and his family ... until pirate ships appear on the horizon. Carlito and his friends are excited at first. They can't wait to see what real pirates look like. But once the ships drop anchor, they attack. And on one terrible night, Carlito witnesses a murder - his father's. When Carlito climbs on the pirate ship in search of revenge, the ship sets sail and he becomes a stowaway. Can Carlito bring his father's murderer to justice? Or will he suffer the same horrendous fate?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Teen, Young Adult, Pirates, Adventure

116 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Kristiana Gregory grew up in Manhattan Beach, California, two blocks from the ocean. She's always loved to make up stories [ask her family!], telling her younger siblings whoppers that would leave them wide-eyed and shivering. Her first rejection letter at age ten was for a poem she wrote in class when she was supposed to be doing a math assignment. She's had a myriad of odd jobs: telephone operator, lifeguard, camp counselor, reporter, book reviewer & columnist for the LA Times, and finally author.

Her award-winning books include STALKED, which earned the 2012 Gold Medal for Young Adult Mystery from Literary Classics and is hailed as "historical fiction with a thrilling twist." KIRKUS calls it "an atmospheric confection that will thrill YA readers ... Gregory achieves a realistic, rich atmosphere with insightful details about the immigration process and New York tenements in the early 1900s." Now available on Kindle and in paperback.

JENNY OF THE TETONS [Harcourt] won the Golden Kite Award in 1989 and was the first of two-dozen historical novels for middle grade readers. Several of Kristiana's titles are now available on Kindle including "Curiously Odd Stories: Vol. 1 and Vol. 2" with the celebrated 'Paper Monument', a futuristic book-banning with horrific consequences.

BRONTE'S BOOK CLUB [Holiday House] is set in a town by the sea and is inspired by the girls' book club Kristiana led for several years.

Her most recent title with Scholastic's Dear America series is CANNONS AT DAWN, a sequel to the best-selling THE WINTER OF RED SNOW, which was made into a movie for the HBO Family Channel.

New re-releases in ebooks and paperback on Amazon:
**PRAIRIE RIVER SERIES #1-4
**ORPHAN RUNAWAYS: THE PERILOUS ESCAPE TO BODIE
**CABIN CREEK MYSTERIES #7: THE PHANTOM OF HIDDEN HORSE RANCH
**THE WAITING LIGHT: CLEMENTINE'S STORY -- originally titled "My Darlin' Clementine" [Holiday House] this riveting historical mystery takes place in an Idaho mining camp of 1866, and was Idaho's representative for the 2010 National Book Festival in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Library of Congress.

Kristiana and her husband have two adult sons, and live in Idaho with their two golden retrievers. In her spare time she loves to swim, walk, hike, read, and hang out with friends. She's trying to learn to knit, but isn't yet having much success.

Check out Kristiana's blogs at http://notesfromthesunroom.blogspot.com/ for behind-the-scenes stories about her books, and with photos from her childhood.

Reviews

[Ripken]

This book is about a Spaniard boy who tries to seek revenge for his murdered father but gets stuck on a pirates ship and is forced as a cabin boy.

I love how Carlito crawls into the tiny space of they ship because he was so cold he couldn't take it anymore. I also loved how Montague threw Parvo overboard into the sea. I learned that Spain once ruled California.

Will Carlito seek revenge for his father and will he escape The Argentina find out when you read The Stowaway.

[Jenny]

As someone trying to learn Spanish, I thoroughly enjoyed the sprinkling of Spanish words throughout the story and the translations of each chapter title. I'd like to read more books like that!

I didn't like this story as well as Gregory's Prairie River series - although interesting and well written, it was darker and ickier. It is about pirates, after all.
I appreciated Carlito's determination to stay alive and make it back to his family, and his desire to help others along the way.

Once again, I neglected to take notes while reading, but here are some things of note that I do recall:

-Carlito and his friends shirk their duties in favor of playing, with no consequences
-Carlito sneaks away from his mother twice. Once alone, once with friends. The first time he witnesses his father's murder, and the second, is captured by pirates.
-Mentions whippings/floggings, blood, the smell of blood, being shot, wanting to harm people, wishing people would die, plotting to kill people, witnessing and not stopping a preventable murder, drownings/men overboard
-We learn that a young boy had his eye put out and his throat slit (he survived)
-A man is kept prisoner and it's mentioned several times that he's literally starving and emaciated
-Lice, maggots, eating moldy/maggoty food
-The stench of urine and chamber pots is mentioned; we get details about the ships' "bathrooms" for the crew. We're told one is in use when Carlito is getting the tour, and he and a crew member watch another pirate on the other ship as he's using the "privy-" we read that he's bare-bottomed, sitting on a rope strung over the side of the ship, and uses a different rope (shared by all the crew members 🤢) to wipe when he's done.
-Two young girls are captured and brought aboard for "entertainment." It's noted later that their dresses are torn and the girls are no longer of use.
-Cigars, smoking, alcohol, drinking, drunkenness are all mentioned
-People are marooned and left to die. In the epilogue, we learn that some of those people did indeed die.

Despite the publisher's recommended reading for age 9-12, this book isn't exactly child-friendly. I'm saving it for 13+.

[Lori]

Enjoyed Ms. Gregory's view into the life of pirates in the early 1800s from the viewpoint of 11-year-old Carlito. Carlito initially boards the vessel to get revenge for his father's death, but finds himself in a life or death struggle of his own. Readers of 'Island of the Blue Dolphins' will most likely recognize some of the locations the pirate ships visit.

[Dayna Smith]

When Carlito's father is killed by pirates he stows away on their ship to seek revenge. Soon he finds himself struggling to stay alive on a ship full of evil men. He begins to think escaping is more important than vengeance. A great story for younger boys.

[Nancy]

Pirates are cruel, evil, brutal, heartless, cold, dastardly creatures.

Re-read 9 years later: This is a tough story with hatred, killing, torture and greed. Based on some real pirates and real places. One man had forgiveness in his heart. (Like Joseph in the Bible)

[Jenni]

This was an interesting book, and I really enjoyed picking up the few spanish words that were thrown in there. It gives a new perspective to pirates. Aimed to younger kids, but I don't mind that.

[Nikki Gabriel]

it was totaly good and i could realy under stand it.

[Debbie]

For our Hawaii audience, thought this might connect, as Chapter 1 originates in the Sandwich Islands. Plot was interesting. Unsure how "blonde hair" would survive a burial over time.

[Oliviaglenn]

good

[Rebekah Haas]

A boy is stowaway ed on a pirate ship after they attack his town as a political vantage point Along for the ride are a few other hidden stowaways and prisoners. Carlito, the boy, got on the ship to avenge his father's death, but he stayed on to save his life. Pretty good book. A little below what I like to read, but I appreciated the Spanish in it.

[Ives Ivy]

Very fun short read, especially as someone from California learning Spanish-- who also loves pirates and that whole section of history. Just hit a lot of my interest boxes! I read it as a break from my classwork for college. I'll probably look into its historical context later. :)

[Jay DeVine]

Not a bad little book. My fourth graders read it as a history-lit book. Pretty neat, since this is all local history.

[Sara]

Surprisingly realistic tale. The reader can feel the anxiety and despair of the characters. A good snippet of history and geography of California,

[Dezmin De]

Pretty good interesting plot

[Evelynn]

Review to come.