The Accidental Stowaway

Starred review from May 1, 2025
In 1910, a headstrong girl finds herself on an unplanned ocean voyage. Esme "Patch" Leonard, a pale girl with wavy dark hair, has been shuttled from relative to relative all her life, "passed from pillar to post." At her latest placement, with a family friend in Liverpool, she discovers a small package labeled "For E." Does it contain a clue to the mother who disappeared when she was born? She takes the ruby ring she finds inside while exploring the port city on her roller skates. After crashing on cobblestones, Patch meets Arturo, an Italian American boy from New York who works on the ocean liner SSGlorious. Patch shares one skate with him, and when he zooms away on it, she follows him onto the ship, accidentally becoming a stowaway when it leaves the dock. The characters, many of whom offer up confusing and befuddling lies, are rarely what they seem. Readers will encounter numerous clues that will make sense as events unfold. Mystery piles upon mystery, and surprises come at a breathtaking pace. The third-person narration reveals Patch's thoughts and follows her rash plans, which often place her in increasing danger. The story has twists and turns galore, as convoluted as the ship's corridors and back stairs, along with dastardly villains and loving relationships. The highly detailed narration conveys the syntax, language, sights, and sounds of the era. Several charming and dramatic full-page illustrations perfectly capture the events and characters. A fascinating, imaginative adventure. (ship diagram, steamship cruise advertisement)(Historical adventure. 9-13)

COPYRIGHT(2025) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 1, 2025
Grades 3-6 Esme "Patch" (short for Crosspatch) Leonard has been "passed from pillar to post" her whole life, moving through a string of relatives' homes as a result of having neither a father (dead) nor a mother (absconded). Her newest placement has barely begun when Patch rushes headlong into a grand adventure. Conned by a ship's boy, a furious Patch pursues him onto the RMS Glorious, only for the luxury liner to set sail while she's still aboard. Fortunately, Patch bumps into another girl her age who eagerly agrees to help Patch hide in plain sight as a first-class passenger. Eagle populates the steamship with quirky, memorable characters and creates a fascinating world in miniature as the girls scurry between decks and class divides. The stakes are raised when the girls begin to suspect certain passengers of being up to no good and become entangled with their dangerous scheme. As Patch puzzles out who they really are and what they're up to, several other secrets come to light. Wonderfully scrappy and bighearted, Patch is a protagonist readers will cheer on.

COPYRIGHT(2025) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 28, 2025
When the eponymous protagonist learns of a mystery that needs solving aboard a luxury liner, it’s all hands on deck in this bustling historical tale by previous collaborators Eagle and Rioux (The Pear Affair). Twelve-year-old Patch often feels like “the kind of parcel that no one wants to receive.” Since she was born, she’s lived with her father in Kensington, her aunt in Surrey, her grandmother in Northumberland, her uncle in Essex, and with a second cousin twice removed in Islington. Deemed “unmanageable” by the cousin, Patch is next sent to the Liverpool Institute High School for Girls, where she will be cared for by a family friend in the school’s employ. But when she arrives at the seaside institution, Patch’s new guardian is away. Instead, Patch encounters young American deckhand Turo, on shore leave from cruise ship the RMS Glorious, and she soon finds herself heading unceremoniously to sea as an accidental stowaway. Aboard, she befriends Lilian, a young heiress who offers to help Patch blend in among wealthy patrons sailing to America—until the trio become embroiled in a ship-wide conspiracy. The larger-than-life setting provides ample opportunity for swashbuckling adventures whose stakes, while never too high, are always exciting. Illustrations portray the protagonists with pale skin. Ages 8–12.