For fans of Katherine Applegate’s The One and Only Ivan comes the swashbuckling story of a little cat’s high seas adventures, now available as a Yearling paperback.   Captain Natick does not want to take a kitten on board his ship as it sets sail, but his daughter convinces him that the scrawny yellow cat will bring him good luck. Onto the ship the kitten goes, and so begins the adventurous, cliff-hanging, lucky life of Jacob Tibbs, who must learn how to hunt rats, brave a mutiny, survive on a desert island, and, most importantly, navigate the tricky waters of shipboard life, no matter where the waves may take him. “Original, surprisingly intense. . . . A beautiful piece of writing.” —Holly Goldberg Sloan, New York Times bestselling author of Counting by 7s   “Rarely does a book come along that I finish and think, ‘This is going to be a classic.’” —Jo Knowles, author of See You at Harry’s   “Emotional resonance and chockablock seafaring adventures combined with coming-of-age themes take this over the top. . . . An outstanding choice.” — SLJ, starred review   “Busby has created a story that will enthrall fans of animal fantasy.” — Booklist, starred review   “In addition to giving Jacob an engaging narrative voice, Busby fills the novel with nautical lore and lingo, making Jacob’s journey one to savor.” — Publishers Weekly   “An absorbing historical coming-of-age adventure.” — Kirkus Reviews “Original, surprisingly intense. . . . A beautiful piece of writing.” —Holly Goldberg Sloan, New York Times bestselling author of Counting by 7s   “Rarely does a book come along that I finish and think, ‘This is going to be a classic.’” —Jo Knowles, author of See You at Harry’s   “Emotional resonance and chockablock seafaring adventures combined with coming-of-age themes take this over the top. . . . An outstanding choice.” — SLJ, starred review   “Busby has created a story that will enthrall fans of animal fantasy.” — Booklist, starred review   “In addition to giving Jacob an engaging narrative voice, Busby fills the novel with nautical lore and lingo, making Jacob’s journey one to savor.” — Publishers Weekly   “An absorbing historical coming-of-age adventure.” — Kirkus Reviews CYLIN BUSBY is the author of several fiction and nonfiction books for young readers. Her memoir, The Year We Disappeared— co-written with her father, John Busby—was a Wall Street Journal bestseller, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, and a Cybils Award winner. While living on a farm in Tennessee, Cylin’s family kept more than twenty cats in the barn, whose job it was to keep the livestock feed free of vermin. The cat in this book is based on one of those cats—Graybeard—who was born a feeble, sickly runt and went on to become a great mouser. Cylin lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their son. Learn more about Cylin at cylinbusby.com. Chapter 1 A Life Below I was born on a ship, the runt of a six-litter. I didn't mind hearing myself called a runt, as that's what I was. And besides which, being smallest turned out to be my good fortune. My mother was a ship's cat to Captain Nicholas Natick, and she had spent a good many of her days on board the Melissa Rae--his ship named after his own daughter. The Melissa Rae was in port in Liverpool on the stormy gray day when my three sisters, two brothers, and I were born in the year 1847. This was not my mother's first litter, and some of the sailors say she knew how to time herself to the docking of the ship, so as to not give birth on a stormy sea or interrupt her work as a captain's cat, which she took very seriously. Captain Natick dubbed my mother Mrs. Tibbs; he was a man who believed that those given a Christian name had a soul, and he wasn't one to partake of nicknames. So although the sailors sometimes called my mother Mrs. T., and later called me just Tibbs for short, you'd never hear the captain call us by anything other than our proper names. For this reason, as soon as my siblings and I could open our eyes, the captain set about naming us as well, with the help of his daughter, Melissa. I'm sorry to say I was too young at the time, and many years have since passed, for me to remember everyone's name, but I do recall that I had one sister called Samantha, another named Butterscotch, and a brother of the name Moxie. I was called Jacob, which was Melissa's idea. She said if she'd been lucky enough to have had a brother, she would have wanted him to be called Jacob, and so it was. The Melissa Rae was a sound ship, with a square stern and three masts. She was not a pretty craft, like the turned-out clippers with sails full up, but a working vessel, making the journey between England and America to deliver mail, packages, and whatever else she was hired out to carry. She traveled well, and the sailors on board gave due credit to my mother for their good fortune. My mother was no ordinary cat-o'-sea; she had a reputation that preceded h