Captain Grey

by Avi, Charles Micolaycak (Illustrator)

Following the Revolution, an eleven-year-old boy becomes the captive of a ruthless man who has set up his own "nation", supported by piracy, on a remote part of the New Jersey coast.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Childrens, Fiction, Middle Grade, Juvenile, Pirates, Audiobook

141 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Avi is a pen name for Edward Irving Wortis, but he says, "The fact is, Avi is the only name I use." Born in 1937, Avi has created many fictional favorites such as The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Nothing but the Truth, and the Crispin series. His work is popular among readers young and old.

Reviews

[Colby S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought captain grey was a very fine piece of literature. This book definitely satisfied my thirst for adventure. I liked how the book took you to a time where pirates sailed the seas, and showed you the basics of living like a pirate. My favorite parts of the book was when Captain Grey and his men got on their rafts and longboats and took down ships just off the coast of their "Nation". This book however, didn't go into much depth when it talked about taking down said ships; which I didn't really like that much. All in all this book was pretty good.

[Ariane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the strong sister in this YA book. She survives alone in a pigeon cave, schemes to get revenge on the pirates who killed her father and captured her brother. Aggressive, strong, determined - yeah!

[Linda Hanson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am usually a big fan of Avi's work, but I had a hard time getting into this book until almost two-thirds of the way in. However, a nice young readers adventure story.

[Anne Mc · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite Avi book. I generally love Avi’s novels—especially Gold Rush Girl and Charlotte Doyle. This book just never quite captured my attention or my emotions. Shortly after the American Revolution, Kevin’s father takes him and his sister Cathleen into the wilds of New Jersey (yes, really) for a new start. They are attacked by a motely crew of pirates, and Kevin is taken back to their camp as the sole survivor. He’s forced to become the apprentice to the captain as they attack ships sailing down the coast and he tries to figure out how to escape. Not even the adventure scenes are compelling—possibly because of the ambiguous moral positions in the novel. The main adventures are pirate attacks, so do we want them to succeed because they are the characters we know or do we want them to fail because they are keeping Kevin captive? The captain, it is revealed, left society for morally-just reasons such as opposition to slavery but is clearly bloodthirsty and morally bankrupt—or is he to be admired somewhat? The novel could explore these tensions and be much more compelling, but it doesn’t. The characters remain wooden and the action feels mostly told rather than shown. It’s one of his very first books, so it’s clear that his writing improved as he wrote more and more.

[L.M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I became a big fan of Avi in middle school after one of my classmates did a book report on Wolf Rider. Part of what drew me to this book is I just listened to The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier, the audiobook was done by the same narrator who did the audiobook for Captain Grey. Though I love Avi's writing and I like the narrator, I just didn't connect with this book. It was an interesting premise and well-written as all of Avi's books are, but there was just something missing. I felt the main character was a bit underwhelmed by his situation and I felt his reactions to what was happening to him throughout the story were understated. The drama and suspense that made me devour Wolf Rider was missing. To be fair, I feel this way about audiobooks much more often than I do about print books or even ebooks so the medium might have had a lot to do with it.

[Tirzah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Captain Grey is written in Avi-classic style: short and too the point but full of facts, adventures, and impactful characters. It being a pirate story, it had rough moments and the ending was a bit unsettling, but Kevin and Cathleen showed resilience and courage in the face of danger. Readers who enjoy adventure stories, especially sea adventures will most likely enjoy this one.

[Ruthe Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

In addition to his captivating story lines in his many books, Avi seems to insert a lot of underlying themes that would make for wonderful discussion – in this case, themes of fatherhood, courage, fortitude, betrayal, forced loyalty. I loved the thoughts and actions of Kevin toward Captain Grey in the end.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can't remember when I read this book. Decades ago. I've been searching for it for years as I couldn't recall the title. I remember the adventure just jumped off the pages. A very exciting book with a thrilling denouement.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not his best but still a good storyteller.

[Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book has a slow but interesting start, is a fun book if your into pirates or historical fiction.

[Beki Eikum · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exciting story for a middle grade novel. I told my kids about it and they were pumped, asking me days later how it ended.

[Sharon Buxton · Rating 2 out of 5]

C-. fiction, children's fiction, historical fiction, 18th c., upper elementary

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

ok story

[Jeff_§of2014]

This book started out with Kevin and his sister, Cathleen who was born in the City of Philadelphia. Cathleen was 2 years older than Kevin, but their mother died during Kevin's birth had fled Ireland to go to America with nothing but his hate of the English. When the War of Independence took hold of the Americans, he left Kevin and Cathleen to take care of their mother's cousin, Mrs. Barry. Mrs. Barry was low on money, so she was always worried about food. Kevin and Cathleen weren't accepted by other children, so they would run into distant forests in which they wanted to live like Indians than people of the city. After the war over a period of 7 years, their father returned to them, he decided he did not want anything to do with the government so they moved to the southern wilderness of New Jersey. From there, their father searched for a place that did not benefit from the government, Kevin and Cathleen survived because of their Indian arts. They built a camp and then camped there for 3 days, but their father hadn't done a thing but think about the government. Suddenly, on the third day they heard a shot from a pistol and they found a group of men surrounding them, they were pirates. The captain demanded their father to get up but he refused, so the captain smacked him to see if it worked, and it did. When the captain had mentioned government, the father reached for one of the pistols on the captain's belt, but he was countered, dropped on the floor and killed by the captain in an instant. They then captured Kevin and left the sister behind, Kevin assumed she was dead. They kept him in custody for sometime, but later, he was given the freedom to fight for the pirates and raid ships.
I can relate this to another series, Reborn!, in both these texts, there is a boy who is rejected by normal children, he chooses not to fight but some figure would awaken their fighting spirit which they are blessed with.
I rate this book 3 stars because the book is not all that interesting since the setting was back in the 1700's where the technology was not as advanced today. It also had a very slow paced plot which was very tedious to read through.

[Chazzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up to read between the biography "The Bashful Billionaire" and "The Patchwork Planet", both adult reads. I have been reading Avi's books for a while and am attempting to have a complete collection of his.

Granted the book is for kids, but it offers excitement, mystery and adventure that even adults can get into.

It is 1783 and pirates do exist. Kevin Cartwright has been kidnapped by one of the most murderous ones around, Captain Grey. Grey and his band killed his father and sister but kept Kevin. Why? What will they do with him?

Captain Grey has established his "Free Nation" in a cove on the New Jersey shore. There is a 'sand island' that sits across the opening to the cove and provides cover so the the pirates can watch the traffic of the ships that go up and down the coast without being seen. A perfect set up to allow them to pick and choose their victims for plundering.

Captain Grey trains Kevin in the way of the pirates and lets Kevin know that he is now 'one of them'. Kevin still can't figure out why, and keeps hope that some how he will be able to escape from these men.

When a pigeon shows up in the attic room he is given, he starts a friendship with it. The friendship will lead to much more....more than he imagined.

Being a kids' book it is a short read, but there is a lot packed into the pages. A Goodread to me!

[Adilene Macedo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary

The story is mainly focused on a boy named Kevin that is captured by Captain Grey and his crew. When Kevin is captured he is kept locked up until he agrees to become a pirate.Kevin then is later shown by Captain Grey the methods in order to survive and take his place as captain if he were to die. Kevin goes trough 2 sea battles being part of is experience on how to fight. Throughout the book Kevin spends 25 days until he can be freed.

My favorite line is "Well, Master Freeman Kevin" this line infers that Kevin wants freedom and he will refuse to anything that will prevent him from being free from his captors. This line is when Captain Grey was trying to convince Kevin to either become a pirate and work for him or he will not get his freedom back.

Well I think that this book is really interesting because the Captain is not a mean captain but a tough person because situations in his life have made him that way. The same as Kevin his character as a person makes him stand out because he stands up for what is not fair but he is also not afraid of captain Grey. I give 3 stars to the book because Kevin and Captain Grey confrontations within each other made it fun to keep reading.

[Lisa Rathbun · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm sure this was an exciting book, but it seemed like such a ripoff of "Treasure Island" that I couldn't enjoy it as much. It even ends almost exactly the same as "Treasure Island." Captain Grey, however, is no where near as well-rounded and interesting a character as Long John Silver. His erratic history makes the narrator sorry for him, but it just wasn't convincing to me. The main character also reminded me a lot of Captain Nemo in "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea." I would probably not recommend this to young people, because I do not want to destroy their enjoyment of "Treasure Island" once they're old enough to read it. In my opinion, the classic trumps the contemporary!

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agree with other reviewers. It's a bit grim and the ending seems rushed. I wish Goodreads gave out half stars as I think this one would be a 2.5. I'm beginning to see a pattern/formula in some of Avi's stories in how some of his main characters are so poorly treated by everyone to get them into the predicament they have to deal with, so perhaps expecting this took away a bit of the fun. Good, but not great.

[Ginny Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved this one... funny, historical aspect of Revolutionary war time period. Great for preteen reading age group, but one that will be enjoyed by all.

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pirate tale told from shore. It's exciting and fast paced trying to out think the old captain.

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Grim story of a boy captured by a group of embittered men, led by Captain Grey, who turn to piracy. They capture ships, take no captives, and then sink the ships.

[Kitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good action read for 4/5th graders.

[googoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1783, young Kevin Cartwright is kidnapped by the mysterious Captain Grey and his crew of pirates after they kill Kevin's father and sister.

[Arlene Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before there were fifty shades...

[Deborah Harris]

AR Quiz No. 42431 EN Fiction
Accelerated Reader Quiz Information IL: MG - BL: 5.8 - AR Pts: 5.0
Accelerated Reader Quiz Type Information AR Quiz Types: RP, VP

[Danielle Head · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great adventure. I want to read more books by Avi.

[Bambi Wood · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not Avi's best. Listened to the audio book while on a road trip. Kept my interest. But barely.