Karen Hesses’s intricately detailed historical novel chronicles the journey of 11-year-old Nicholas Young, a stowaway aboard the H.M.S. Endeavor when Captain James Cook embarks on a trip to the southern hemisphere in 1768. Nick is discovered a few days out from port but Captain Cook gives him a chance to prove his worth and earn a place among the crew. Over the course of a three-year journey that turns out to be a secret mission at the request of the king to search for an unknown continent, Nick proves himself in many ways–as hard worker, compassionate observer, and, above all, loyal friend. The story is told through journal entries kept by Nick that document camaraderie and clashes among crew members, the work of the botanists who are cataloging the flora and fauna of the many places they travel, and many encounters with native peoples of the southern hemisphere. Nicholas Young was a real boy who really was part of the H.M.S. Endeavor crew on Cook’s first voyage of discovery. An author’s note provides information about what little is known about the real Nicholas Young, some of it culled from the log entries Cook himself kept aboard that voyage. Here, Nick comes alive as a keen and sensitive storyteller. (Ages 10-14)

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.