The Book of Pirates

by Michael Hague

It is glorious to be a pirate king--especially in this full-bodied collection of eleven classic stories and poems by such masters as Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle, J. M. Barrie, Washington Irving, and John Masefield. In his dramatic illustrations Michael Hague takes readers to a faraway world filled with adventure, excitement--and danger. Imagine that you are an orphaned boy watching a trio of fierce pirates burying treasure on a deserted beach. Or a nervous skipper on a long ocean journey, hoping against hope that a dreaded pirate captain is finally captured. Or a reformed pirate who has taken up knitting and then has a memorable slip from his peaceful ways. Hush--the moon is shimmering on the blue-black sea, and a ragged ship sails silently into sight. Slip aboard--no walking the plank for you! With Michael Hague at the helm, you just might glimpse such legendary characters as Long John Silver, Captain Hook--even Captain Kidd himself!--in this heady mixture of tales from the time when pirates ruled the seas.

Genres: Adventure, Picture Books, Childrens

160 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2001

About the author

Michael Hague is renowned as the illustrator of many children's classics, including editions of The Wizard Of Oz, Peter Pan, The Hobbit, and The Velveteen Rabbit. He also illustrated The Book of Ghosts, Where Fairies Dance, The Book of Wizards, and The Book of Fairy Poetry as well as wrote and illustrated the graphic novel in The Small. Michael lives with his wife, Kathleen, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Reviews

[Mandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice illustrated collection of pirate stories. I liked the variety and the illustrations!

I was kind of surprised certain phrases weren't edited out of this collection... It's clearly written for children but has a few adult and racist phrases that could have easily been edited out of the original texts.

Regardless, this was a fun little collection to read before bed.

[Melany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pirates are always a fascinating subject, part myth part reality. The Book of Pirates explores the world of pirates through the eyes of classical literary authors which is why I put it on my favorite shelf. I also loved the way the book has a mixture of writing styles; from musical script to jaunty ballads to excerpts from classic novels. Readers from 5th grade on up will get lost at sea and be able to taste the salt air as they swallow up every word.

I would use this book in my class a few ways. First I could use it as an introduction to different genres of reading and writing. I also could use it as a compare/contrast for retelling of the different versions of some stories in the book, many which have been made into movies. Another way I would use this book is to introduce some classic literature writers. Stevenson, Doyle, and Barrie are some of the names that all readers should know.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is cataloged as juvenile 808.80352 Boo.Just FYI, in the 2 pages I read, there was reference to drinking, drunkenness and taking God's name in vain. True, we are to consider the subject matter, and pirates were not generally considered savory characters. The selector and illustrator chose portions of larger works to include under one cover. Since they are from classic sources, he did not edit the text for politically incorrect comments. He uses black and white pen and ink illustrations and nicely executed muted color washes from his own hand.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book of short stories about pirates and their many adventures. Many of the stories have morals or lessons to be learned in each story. Uses very discriptive language, good to dimonstrate discriptive writing.

[Carolyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art is beautiful but some of the stories are fairly gruesome. Not really sure its appropriate for children. Maybe I'm just old fashioned? The stories are fairly short excerpts. Just enough to tantalize and encourage the reader to find the original books and read the whole story.