Swashbuckle Lil: The Secret Pirate

Lil is a dreamer with an extraordinary imagination. She has no interest in playground games, schoolwork or even watching TV for she’s too busy being a ‘good’ pirate, putting the world to rights with her trusty red parrot, Carrot. She’s always on the lookout for danger – and it looms large in the guise of the most wicked of pirates, Stinkbeard.

The book contains two stories that reveal her fantasy world. In the first, she thwarts Stinkbeard’s plan of kidnapping her teacher and then, in the second, she’s pitted against his pet crocodile, who’s intent on gobbling up her fellow pupils on sports’ day.

Set in verse and in rhyming patterns, the stories abound with energy, humour and cheerfulness. Their content is gripping enough to hold young readers’ attention, the rhythm and rhyme helping to make the text accessible while revealing the richness of language, especially when read aloud. Free-flowing large black and white drawings infused with movement and mayhem capture the stories’ exuberance.