A grand and stirring tale for readers not quite ready for Tony Lee and Sam Hart’s Pirate Queen (2019).
A rousing tribute to Granuaile O’Malley, 16th-century freebooter from County Mayo.
As this import has received no special treatment for an international audience, there is no pronunciation guide for names and locales, but the Irish author and illustrator offer reasons aplenty for readers this side of the pond to tip figurative hats to a fierce and fearless heroine. She started off by cutting her hair short (“Granuaile” means “Bald Gráinne”) to become a sailor, then went on to exploits that included fighting off Algerian pirates (newborn babe in one arm), leading pirate raids of her own, and bargaining face to face (in Latin, their only shared language) with Elizabeth I for the release of two sons from prison. Smiling confidently and topped by a flaming mop of red hair, O’Malley definitely cuts a swashbuckling figure in the simple, flat illustrations—cutlass frequently to hand whether leaping into (blood-free) battle or just posing heroically. Though the Burkes give both the political waters in which she sailed and the violence inherent in her line of work little notice, they do identify her two husbands and her children as well as select rivals or others prominent in her life. Most of the human figures are white though some, particularly in fight scenes but also in family groupings, display a range of skin tones.
A grand and stirring tale for readers not quite ready for Tony Lee and Sam Hart’s Pirate Queen (2019). (timeline, additional facts) (Picture book/biography. 6-9)Pub Date: June 11, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7171-8350-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Gill Books/Dufour Editions
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
Innocuous adventuring on the smallest of scales.
The Mouse and the Motorcycle (1965) upgrades to The Mice and the Rolls-Royce.
In Windsor Castle there sits a “dollhouse like no other,” replete with working plumbing, electricity, and even a full library of real, tiny books. Called Queen Mary’s Dollhouse, it also plays host to the Whiskers family, a clan of mice that has maintained the house for generations. Henry Whiskers and his cousin Jeremy get up to the usual high jinks young mice get up to, but when Henry’s little sister Isabel goes missing at the same time that the humans decide to clean the house up, the usually bookish big brother goes on the adventure of his life. Now Henry is driving cars, avoiding cats, escaping rats, and all before the upcoming mouse Masquerade. Like an extended version of Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Two Bad Mice (1904), Priebe keeps this short chapter book constantly moving, with Duncan’s peppy art a cute capper. Oddly, the dollhouse itself plays only the smallest of roles in this story, and no factual information on the real Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House is included at the tale’s end (an opportunity lost).
Innocuous adventuring on the smallest of scales. (Fantasy. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-6575-5
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
A nifty high-seas caper for chapter-book readers with a love of adventure and a yearning for treasure.
It’s not truffles but doubloons that tickle this porcine wayfarer’s fancy.
Funke and Meyer make another foray into chapter-book fare after Emma and the Blue Genie (2014). Here, mariner Stout Sam and deckhand Pip eke out a comfortable existence on Butterfly Island ferrying cargo to and fro. Life is good, but it takes an unexpected turn when a barrel washes ashore containing a pig with a skull-and-crossbones pendant around her neck. It soon becomes clear that this little piggy, dubbed Julie, has the ability to sniff out treasure—lots of it—in the sea. The duo is pleased with her skills, but pride goeth before the hog. Stout Sam hands out some baubles to the local children, and his largess attracts the unwanted attention of Barracuda Bill and his nasty minions. Now they’ve pignapped Julie, and it’s up to the intrepid sailors to save the porker and their own bacon. The succinct word count meets the needs of kids looking for early adventure fare. The tale is slight, bouncy, and amusing, though Julie is never the piratical buccaneer the book’s cover seems to suggest. Meanwhile, Meyer’s cheery watercolors are as comfortable diagramming the different parts of a pirate vessel as they are rendering the dread pirate captain himself.
A nifty high-seas caper for chapter-book readers with a love of adventure and a yearning for treasure. (Adventure. 7-9)Pub Date: June 23, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-37544-3
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015
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