Blackthorn Winter

Maritime #1

by Douglas Wilson

Times may change, and pirates may change their tack, but the Monroe boys always seem driven to the sea…

Young Thomas Monroe was bred for the sea. At his first chance he sets off on a merchant’s ship, but Thomas gets more of an adventure than he’d expected when his ship is captured by the pirates whose treasure map he stole! He somehow must keep himself and his captain alive, and beat the pirates to their treasure. Meanwhile, hundreds of years in the future, Jim Monroe—Thomas’ descendant—is also in desperate need of that treasure, or he and his mother will lose the family land. Embark on this thrilling tale of piracy and derring-do, Douglas Wilson’s first foray into children’s fiction.



Douglas Wilson’s Maritime Series follows the adventures of the Monroe family from the eighteenth century through modern times. Times may change, and pirates may change their tack, but the Monroe boys always seem driven to the sea...



Canonball Books is the children's imprint of Canon Press. At Canonball, we believe stories are soul food, so you can expect excitement, danger, loyalty, virtue, and family in your Canonball books. Feed your kids the right books!

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Childrens, Historical, Christian, Pirates, Christian Fiction

132 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2003

About the author

I write in order to make the little voices in my head go away. Thus far it hasn't worked.

Reviews

[ValeReads Kyriosity]

I intended to finish Andrew Murray's Humility today—proper Sabbath reading—but I got home from church and fell dead asleep till five o'clock, at which point I fell dead awake, far too stupid to comprehend anything that thoughtful. Blackthorn Winter proved a suitable alternative. There was a fun story, there was swashing, there was buckling, there was a proverbially sober judge that would do any Christian Nationalist proud. There was not a lot of cerebral effort required.

[Josiah Richardson]

A good, albeit predictable, kids book that teaches some fundamental truths and virtues such as courage, honesty, duty, strength, and resistance to tyrannical governments.

[Seth]

Quite enjoyable. Unsurprisingly, it “rhymes” with Treasure Island without Stevenson’s attempts to baptize or sanitize piracy. The modern day tie ins were a fun twist as well as the full throated Christian Nationalism from the magistrates (this was written in 2003). My only complaint is that the action moved too quickly and didn’t allow for the type of character development I would have preferred. In that way Treasure Island is superior. That work is a case study in certain personality types. There’s much more depth there. You won’t be studying Blackthorn in your high school literature class, but I could see it being an engaging study for late elementary and early middle school students, especially boys.

[Seth]

A short, fast-paced story of pirates and treasure set in the colonial era Chesapeake. The writing was a bit ho-hum, but I thought the ultimate lesson about the piracy of our modern government was the best part, and well worth the reading.

[Bethany Diekman]

It’s an interesting and adventurous book, but I would not recommend the audio book. The author reads it too monotone and much too quickly which makes it hard to follow, but I would want my children to read these stories when they are teens. It teaches good morals and godliness to teens.

[Emily]

Read this a long time ago, just finished listening to it with the kids!

[Jocelyn]

Great character conversation starter, especially for aspiring young men!

[Lizze Miller]

Audio is now on the canon app! A great listen with the kids.

[Mason Sherrill]

3.5 ⭐️
Solid, fun, pirate adventure! Also love how clearly the protagonists are wise and the antagonists foolish & reactionary. So good for young readers to be digesting ways they can see wisdom play out in characters without just reading the words “they are wise”.

*audiobook Canon+

[Annette]

Pirates and treasure and a well-written adventure. Need I say more? My lad was hooked from the very first chapter.

A present day story that linked back into history...would a need be met?

I liked that the heroes of the story were men/boys of character.

[Isaac]

4.5 stars. Fine reading for your 10 year old son, and yourself. Enjoyable, instructive, and many example for emulation and warning. My name is “Isaac Thomas”, so something about that made this more powerful personally for me.

[Katie W]

I was in the mood for a pirate story, and remembered Blackthorn Winter from years ago. It's a quick and light read, fast-paced, and would make a great read-aloud book for children. The plot is fairly well set up, although not terribly original, but overall I enjoyed the writing style and historical setting well enough to keep reading. I thought the comparison drawn between piracy and the government was an interesting take, even if lacking in subtlety.

[Heidi Breton]

A very fun pirate story, well-told with great atmosphere and excitement. Recommended! I think kids 8+ would enjoy this, and I appreciated it as well. It didn’t feel like reading something dumbed down at all, and the action and language are straightforward and easy to understand. I especially appreciated the strong morality of the main character, and the way the story held realistic consequences for various actions.

[Samantha]

Trust Wilson to be fun and exciting! Wilson knows what makes a good story.

I listened to it in a short two hours while weeding to see if it would be something my joys could get into. The writing is easily accessible for kids, and enjoyable for adults. I will hand this, with its many proverbial lessons, to my boys with the hope that it will shape their souls to love God's law.

[John Rimmer]

Perfect length for a car ride to a different sort of adventure out of town, but local enough to us that it kept us along for the ride. Very fun, quick, and full of several great characters. I especially liked the relationship between the protagonist and the captain.

[Bakingshepherdess]

Read aloud to 5th grader. We both LOVED it! Great adventure story.

[Erin Host Hisaw]

excellent read aloud for homeschool history

[Joanna Kelvington]

Got my son interested and enjoying history. Brought the things he is learning to life. Well done.

[Stephanie Sheaffer]

Although this novel was published in 2003, it reads very much like a classic. Reminiscent to Treasure Island and Kidnapped, the book follows a teenage boy on his adventures and misadventures at sea.

[Caleb M. Powers]

A promising beginning and middle, but the end was too quick and most of the guns on the mantlepiece didn't go off in a satisfying way. More like a cough than a bang.

[Megan]

Listened to this with my family on the Canon+ app. It was a quick, fun listen for the whole family.

[Sean Brothers]

Thoroughly enjoyed it. At times I would have liked the story to be thickened out more.

[Seth Nelson]

Good.

[Joshua]

Fun book for boys and I enjoyed it with my son. It was like watching one of those movies with good jokes for adults too.

[Timothy]

Kids fiction. This is the only fiction of Doug's I've read, but I think he should stay away from dabbling in more fiction, personally. His other books may be better. I don't know.

[Chandler]

Great adventure with an evident worldview, and grasp of history. This review applies to all four books in the Maritime series.

[Tim Sheppard]

captivating for kids in the car on road trips

[Bruce Deford]

Great family read-a-loud.

[Carrie]

Fun audio book for driving to/from church. Great adventure.

[Heidi]

It has 120 pages not 130. Why does Goodreads have such a hard time getting this right on so many books?
4.5 stars. Very enjoyable read.