Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary “Jacky” Faber, Ship’s Boy---L.A. Meyer

   Okay, this is, by far, one of the best series I have read. It takes place in 1802, and Mary Faber is an orphan. Her parents had died from the plague when she was eight, and she's now 12, living on the streets with Charlie Rooster's gang. But, one day, Charlie pisses off the wrong people, and ends up dead. Mary decides it's time to act; so she cuts her hair, dons pants, and gives herself the name 'Jacky.' Thinking she's a boy, a navy ship recruits her as a ship's boy, along with the snob James Fletcher, and the other boys, Davy, Bengie, and Will. She's immediately accepted, although, if the crew were to find out that she was a girl, she'd be thrown over the side. Unfortunately, after making a pact with her new mates, and getting a tatoo that says HMS Dolphin with an anchor, she ends up falling for the noble, though still slightly snobbish, Jaimy. Through trials, battles, and trying to hide her ever-growing chest, she endears the crew, and is nick names the fierce, brave Bloody Jack.

This is the beginning paragraph of the book:   

My name is Jacky Faber and in London I was born, but no, I wasn't born with that name. Well, the Faber part, yes, the Jacky part, no, but they call me Jacky now and it's fine with me. They also call me Jack-o and Jock and the Jackeroe, too, and, aye, it's true I've been called Bloody Jack a few times, but that wasn't all my fault. Mostly, though, they just call me Jacky. 

That wasn't my name, though, back then on that Dark Day when my poor dad died of the pestilance and the men dragged him out of our rooms and down our stairs, his poor head hangin' between his shoulders, and his poor feet bouncin' all down the stairs, and me all sobbin'  and blubberin' and mom no help at all, with her bein' sick, too, and my sister, as well.

Back then my name was Mary.