5.0 out of 5 stars
Time to hoist the Jolly Roger! Again!, 16 Mar 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: A Ladybird book about Pirates (Hardcover)
This is a fantastic book, and it is one which has lived on in the imagination of this reader for nearly 30 years. Just the sort of book to excite any child. The perfect gift to fire the imagination and encourage the creativity of children.
The book relates a concise and lucid one page biography on some 22 famous pirates, each of which is given an illustration on the adjacent page.
The suberb watercolour plates by F. Humphris are breathtaking (slightly reminiscent of N.C. Wyeth's magnificent illustrations for the American 1911 edition of Treasure Island) from the powerful evocative cover to the iconic terrifing image of Blackbeard storming some hapless ship. I never forgot the dynamism of Captain La Bouche's "Indian Queen" delivering a broadside, or the image of walking the plank, burying the treasure, or running up the Jolly Roger . Who could forget the fury of Captain Kidd stiking down a mutineer, the argry impotent Pope having lost more of his treasure to Barbarossa. Just wonderful.
Now young ladies are not left out! There is a super image of raven haired buxom Mary Reid fighting a duel by sword, and an even better image of Mary Reid with fellow pirate the equally buxom blonde Anne Bonny fighting on alone with cutlass and flintlock whilst their cowardly male compatriots had fled! There is also a sumptuous image of evil firey redhead Maria Cobham dispatching an unfortunate Captain and his officers.
A great book for Children, of all ages!
Highly recommended.
I have no connection with the author or publisher.