Avast ye, mateys! Shake a leg and join 18th-century pirate-hunter William Lubber, Esq. on an around-the-world sail in search of “that especially Germinous female pirate Arabella Drummond.” His trip features stops at North Carolina’s Ocracoke Inlet, where Blackbeard met his doom, Caribbean pirate haven Port Royal and various remote Pacific isles just right for leaving or finding castaways, plus encounters with Chinese and Barbary pirates. The passages from Lubber’s log are interspersed with maps and flaps, dramatic scenes of fictional and historical pirates buckling swash (or in two cases, twisting in the wind), booklets, trading card–style portraits, views of ships, Jolly Rogers and nautical gear—not to mention detachable packets of letters, a two-part treasure map with coded message, lengths of lanyard for knot-making practice, a packet of glittering “gold dust” and covers embedded with both a compass and an oversized “jewel.” Landlocked young buccaneers (and fans of the other “-ology” outings) who have already hijacked John Matthews’s kindred production Pirates! (May 2006) will rush to board—and to attack the enticing associated website. (Novelty. 9-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-7636-3143-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Koller (Bouncing on the Bed, p. 143, etc.) portrays a Narragansett nickommoh, or celebratory gathering, from which it is very likely the tradition of Thanksgiving was drawn. As explained in an exemplary note—brief, clear, interesting—at the end of the book, these gatherings occurred 13 times a year, once each lunar month. The harvest gathering is one of the larger gatherings: a great lodge was built, copious food was prepared, and music and dance extended deep into the night. Koller laces the text with a good selection of Narragansett words, found in the glossary (although there is no key to pronunciation, even for words such as Taqountikeeswush and Puttuckquapuonck). The text is written as a chanted prose poem, with much repetition, which can be both incantatory and hackneyed, as when “frost lies thick on the fields at dawn, and the winged ones pass overhead in great numbers.” Mostly the phrases are stirring—as are Sewall’s scratchboard evocations—and often inspirational—for this nickommoh puts to shame what has become known as the day before the launch of the holiday shopping season. (Picture book. 6-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-689-81094-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Three Princes (1994). (Picture book/folkore. 5-9)
Broadly echoing the story of Adam and Eve, Kimmel retells the Aztec legend of Ixcocauqui, son of the sun god, and
Coyolxauhqui, daughter of the goddess of the moon. Temptation has prompted Ixcocauqui to disobey his father's command never to leave the precincts of the jade palace. During his foray beyond the walls, he meets Coyolxauhqui and they fall helplessly in love. Ixcocauqui admits his trespass to his father, who, while mightily displeased, consents to their wedding—as long as they vow never to visit the Earth below, on pain of death. Not surprisingly, the Earth proves too seductive and the two of them are caught and turned into mortals, and Coyolxauhqui dies young. They do remain inseparable, the Aztec story goes, and can be seen today as twin mountains in the Valley of Mexico. No punches pulled here: the workings of fate lay heavily on the page, and the consequences attending defiance are neither small nor laughing matters, visiting Ixcocauqui and Coyolxauhqui with speedy doom. Adding to the air of otherworldliness, Fisher's shimmering artwork gives the gods an elusive, incorporeal quality. Distinguished storytelling by the team that produced The
Three Princes (1994). (Picture book/folkore. 5-9)Pub Date: March 15, 2000
ISBN: 0-8234-1504-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2000
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