THE CURSE OF CAPTAIN COLE

A young sailor encounters a cursed pirate with unexpected results in this picture book from a humorist.

Honsberger skillfully launches the tale of Sydney Shorts, the brown-skinned captain of a ship “strong and miles long / if ye dare to hear. / The sail reached high, it touched the sky / and left all others in fear.” But one older pirate isn’t afraid of Sydney’s ship: cursed and wicked Capt. Cole. When the two crews face off on a turbulent sea, it looks like the end for Sydney and his gang. But Sydney’s song strikes a memory within Cole, who realizes the boy is the child he had to leave behind when he was accused of piracy. After another confrontation, the two captains find a way to overcome Cole’s curse—and it’s revealed that the real Sydney is listening to his mom telling a bedtime story. The topic of a father abandoning his family is a weighty and difficult one, and the author introduces the huge mix of emotions the parent and child might feel in a consistent rhyming text without undermining the tale’s gravity. Reveley’s stylistic, digital illustrations, with thick outlines a shade darker than the characters’ faces, embrace the swashbuckling energy of the stirring story but mismatch details. Cole appears far too cheerful and sweet to be a dastardly pirate, and the stormy sea is full of bright blues and pinks, speckled with stars, rather than dark colors.

A well-rhymed, action-packed sailing adventure with plenty of heart.