Ten of the Best Books About Pirates
Chosen by Ann Lazim.
My own first childhood memory of the world of pirates was watching the jerky rolling figures on John Ryan’s animated series Captain Pugwash at Sunday afternoon teatime. Today’s children’s visual associations are more likely to come via the Pirates of the Caribbean films.
Pirates have been portrayed in many guises in children’s literature since Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island first appeared in the 1880s. This classic has had many editions and adaptations, including sequels by Robert Leeson and Andrew Motion, and a recent sci-fi mashup novel by Bali Rai – Doctor Who: Rebellion on Treasure Island (BBC 978-1405952330), not to mention Jewell Parker Rhodes’ new retelling mentioned in this issue.
Here is a selection of relatively recent favourite piratical titles.
The Night Pirates
Peter Harris, illus. Deborah Allwright, Farshore, 978-1405211611
An adventure that begins and ends with memorable patterned language as a band of rough, tough little girl pirates adopt Tom as their shipmate and sail to an island where they get the better of a group of rough, tough grown-up pirates. This classic picture book’s design – the layout of the text across the pages and the use of various sizes and types of font – is integral to the way the story is told. Was it all a dream? The final spread suggests perhaps not!
Jonny Duddle, Templar, 978-1848773929
Matilda is delighted when her new neighbours turn out to be a pirate family, the Jolley-Rogers. The rest of the inhabitants of the dull seaside town where she lives are less than thrilled and band together to have the pirates removed. However, the pirates never planned a permanent stay anyhow…This picture book has a humorous rhyming text and pictures that combine the real and the fantastical, and provides an interesting way to explore ideas about prejudice. Other picture book titles by Jonny Duddle include The Pirates of Scurvy Sands (9781783704095) and The Pirate Cruncher (978-1848773769) and a fiction series featuring The Jolley-Rogers.
Jodie Lancet-Grant, illus. Lydia Correy, Oxford University Press, 978-0192777799
Billy wishes that his family were more ordinary. His two mums are pirates and he finds their behaviour – such as singing sea shanties, consulting smelly old maps, having a parrot as a pet, not to mention their attire and language – really embarassing. So when they offer to be parent volunteers on a school trip to the seaside, Billy is horrified. However, on the outing a boat ride starts to go dangerously wrong and Mummy, Mama and Birdbrain prove to be worth more than their weight in pirate gold.
The Pirates Are Coming!
John Condon, illus. Matt Hunt, Nosy Crow, 978-1788006798
In a story patterned on the fable of ’The Boy Who Cried Wolf’ (but with a different surprise denouement) Tom keeps warning the inhabitants of the coastal village where he lives that ’The Pirates Are Coming!’ and urging everyone to hide. Time after time, he is mistaken and his Dad reminds him: ’Just remember, pirate ships are big and fast and they have a special pirate flag.’ Then one day when the villagers least expect it … the pirates sneak in. Will they be able to hide in time?
Neil Gaiman, illus. Chris Riddell, Bloomsbury, 978-1526614711
When their parents go out for the evening, an astonished brother and sister are left with a most unexpected babysitter – Ship’s Cook Long John McRon. They are soon joined by his motley crew who proceed to create a strange and sumptuous pirate stew. The playful rhyming text draws on many elements associated with pirates and takes them in new nautical directions as they sail away to complete their meal with donuts. Chris Riddell’s bold and colourful figures seem to burst out of the pages. Sadly, Chris Riddell’s 2001 Greenaway Medal winning Pirate Diary (Walker) is currently out of print.
Blackbeard’s Treasure
Iszi Lawrence, Bloomsbury, 978-1801990967
In 1718, Abigail leaves her life as a plantation owner’s daughter in the Caribbean alongside her father’s slave Boubacar, her secret best friend. They board a pirate ship run by maroons, escaped slaves, under Captain Black Caesar. Abigail and Boubacar learn to swim, climb ropes and avoid disgusting smells, as they sail off in search of the infamous pirate, Blackbeard, with whom Caesar has a longstanding feud. Abigail’s natural sense of justice quickly becomes conflicted as she sees how the morality of this pirate world – where the enslaved are forced to choose between the devil and the deep blue sea – mirrors the contradictory values of white, mercantile culture.
Pirate Academy: New Kid on Deck
Justin Somper, illus. Teo Skaffa, Uclan, 978-1915235886
The first in a new series set in the same world and time period – the 26th century – as the author’s earlier Vampirates series. The children in Barracuda class at the Pirate Academy have formed a strong bond of friendship as they serve their ten-year apprenticeship to become fully-fledged pirates. Then parents go missing, one child is sent away and a new student arrives in their midst causing consternation and resentment. Change appears to be on the horizon as the Pirate Federation’s control over the seas is challenged by the League of True Pirates.
Pirates of Darksea
Catherine Doyle, illus. Manuel Šumberac, Bloomsbury, 978-1526655103
Christopher lives on the Galway coast and has long dreamed of setting sail on the ship Stolen Sunrise with Captain O’Malley to the secret kingdom of Darksea. However, when the invitation eventually comes, Christopher is very ill and it is his younger brother Max who must don the pirate mantle and embark on a voyage that brings adventure and responsibility and encounters with mermaids and monsters.
Surely the name of O’Malley recalls Ireland’s own real Pirate Queen who is featured in novels The Ghost of Grania O’Malley by Michael Morpurgo (Farshore 978-1405233408) and Granuaile: Pirate Queen by Morgan Llywelyn (O’Brien Press 978-1847173867)
Vengeance of the Pirate Queen
Tricia Levenseller, Pushkin, 978-1782694267
Set in the same world as the duology Daughter of the Pirate King (978-1782693680) and Daughter of the Siren Queen (978-1782693703), the story follows the fortunes of characters from those books other than the pirate queen Alosa herself. The narrator is Sorinda, a highly accomplished assassin, commissioned to captain a pirate ship at the behest of Alosa and carry out a rescue mission. The carefully chosen crew are mainly women with the notable exception of sailing master Kearan who Sorinda has encountered in earlier adventures. Dicing with death and losing one’s heart run through the centre of this swashbuckling YA novel.
Celia Rees, Bloomsbury, 978-1526632302
This YA novel is set in the 1720s during the golden age of piracy. It draws on historical facts, which are integrated seamlessly, and demonstrates understanding of the interrelationship between colonialism and the slave trade and the position of women at that time. The lives of Nancy, a merchant’s daughter and runaway bride, and Minerva, a runaway slave from Nancy’s family’s Jamaican plantation, are interwoven as they become pirates in a narrative that involves danger, love and loyalty. The story travels from Bristol to the Caribbean and eventually to Madagascar where Nancy and Minerva join an existing community of pirates.
Ann Lazim was librarian at CLPE (Centre for Literacy in Primary Education) for 29 years. She is a committee member of the UK section of IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People). She edits reviews of children’s and YA books for Historical Novels Review and is on the jury of the Indian NEEV Children’s Book Award.
