Cindy Vallar's Blog - Posts Tagged "buccaneer"

Kemosha of the Caribbean by Alex Wheatle

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Fifteen and a slave. One who is curious, always asking questions. Kemosha also has dreams. No matter what she witnesses or endures, she refuses to allow Captain Tate or any of the overseers on the plantation to take away her dreams. One day she will be free!

But Tate has different plans. He sells her to Quartermaster Antock Powell – a move that separates her from her little brother and her friends. Kemosha will be a welcome addition to the tavern that Powell owns. She can cook and she is chaste; with her dark skin his patrons will pay extra for a night with her. Frightened, Kemosha has no choice but to go with her new master, but she vows to one day return to free those she loves.

When her worst fears are realized, Kemosha defends herself and then runs. As a free Black man, Ravenhide understands what awaits her if she’s found. He hides her from her pursuers and, afterwards, trains her to fight with a sword. Once Kemosha can hold her own, he arranges a duel between her and Powell. If she wins, she will be free. Fulfilling one dream isn’t enough, though. Those left behind deserve their freedom too, but that requires money.

Ravenhide, a cooper, sometimes goes buccaneering with Captain Henry Morgan is planning a raid on Porto Bello. When word spreads of a new venture, Kemosha insists on joining Ravenhide at sea even though she’s never set foot beyond Port Royal. Much to everyone’s surprise, Morgan hires her as his cook. Going to sea, however, is fraught with peril, especially since both Powell and the customer she knifed will also be joining this venture. Kemosha soon realizes that dreams and reality differ, sometimes in frightening ways.

The story’s first-person narrative provides young adult readers with a startling, yet realistic portrayal of slavery, seventeenth-century piracy, and Port Royal (and Jamaica) as it was, rather than as Hollywood often portrays the pirate haven. The one drawback is the use of dialect, which only occurs in dialogue. It may give the feel of authenticity to the story, but it can distract readers and is sometimes difficult to decipher. Although some may object to Kemosha’s relationship with another girl, this is a but a fraction of the story as a whole.

While Kemosha may be a product of her times, her dreams, thoughts, and emotional reactions are ones to which modern readers will readily relate. She is a Black heroine who struggles to survive in a world that relegates her to the status of property, yet time and again she shows everyone that she is a person. Morgan’s 1688 raid on Portobello is considered one of the highlights of the Buccaneer Era and, while Kemosha doesn’t participate in the actual sacking, the aftermath that she witnesses is a raw and gut-wrenching portrayal that provides readers with a vivid glimpse into both the realities of her world and the emotions she experiences.




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Girl Before the Legend by S.K. Minnis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Jacquotte Delahaye. The name may mean nothing to most readers, or perhaps a few have heard of this female buccaneer of the 17th century. Mystery surrounds her . . . if she ever existed. If Jacquotte was a real person, who was she and what transpired to make her become a fearsome pirate captain? This is the premise of Minnis’s new trilogy, The Red Pirate, and Girl Before the Legend recounts how Jacquotte went on the account.

A carnival comes to the village where Jacquotte lives. She has a wonderful time with her father and younger brother until she swipes a necklace she covets. She could have purchased it, but doing so lacks adventure and that is something she craves. Perhaps because of her father’s many stories of his adventures. Perhaps because she already knows what life has ordained for her, and she’s not particularly thrilled with getting married and obeying society’s rules.

Sometimes, wishes are granted, but not in the way we expect or want. That night, intruders come. Her father takes Jacquotte and her brother into the smuggler’s tunnels under the house. After making sure they are hidden, he surrenders to the English soldiers and before Jacquotte’s eyes, she watches them kill him. She exacts retribution, but in the process, her brother is traumatized. They must leave even though a storm rages. They set sail in a boat, which causes Etienne further health problems. At sixteen, Jacquotte is too young and lacks the means to take care of him, especially after wanted posters for her appear. If they are to survive, she has only one choice: surrender Etienne into the safekeeping of others while she flees the island aboard her father’s ship. But who’s going to allow a girl aboard a pirate ship? And once there, how can she reclaim what rightfully belongs to her?

This coming-of-age story deftly shows how a series of unconnected events lead Jacquotte onto paths she never expects. At the same time, she must come to grips with what happens to her. Although no specific time frame is provided, references are made to the period when Lord Protectors ruled England during the 1650s. Minnis crafts a realistic pirate tale with touches of swashbuckling adventure in which there are always consequences to face. The only misstep is making Paragon, her father’s ship, a galleon, which in real-life did not possess the sailing qualities needed for these adventures. Revenge, secret codes, a treasure map, slave trading, mysticism, and empire-building are just some of the interwoven threads that make for riveting, action-packed exploits.


This review originally appeared at Pirates and Privateers: http://www.cindyvallar.com/youngadult...



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