Pirates & Privateers: Doug Stillinger's Books

Beware! This is not your normal book and it can be addictive, especially if you like jigsaw puzzles. How to Build Pirate Ships is exactly what the title says. Using building cards (already perforated and notched) that come with this book, children and adults can follow the page-by-page instructions to create a pirate ship or use the cards to construct a design of their own from a Spanish galleon to an island fortress, or a mansion to a river barge. Along the way builders learn the parts of a ship and some scurvy pirate speak.

Sample card (Source: Publisher, used with
permission, image copyrighted)

Instruction Card
(Source: Publisher, used with permission, image copyrighted)

When I tried this book (which mysteriously appeared at my door one day), I opted to build the pirate ship in the instructions. First, I broke the cards into hangers, noses, skinnies, trapezoids, arcs, elbows, biggies, and squares. (Don’t worry, these are just the names of the various shapes of the building cards, which are quite sturdy.) The colorfully illustrated pieces have perforations that easily allowed me to break them apart with a snap. Using words and pictures, the instructions explained how to put the pieces together. The diagrams allowed me to see what pieces go where and how, as well as how the ship will look once the pieces were applied. I was shown what the vessel looked like once finished, but I could have mixed and matched cards to create a patchwork ship rather than the one that was technically correct.

Cards (Source: Publisher, used with
permission, image copyrighted)

Parts of ships (Source: Publisher, used
with permission, image copyrighted)

Building cards and sections of ship
(Source: Publisher, used with permission, image copyrighted)

I had only two problems while constructing my ship. On page 11, there is an error in the number of skinnies needed to complete step eight. The picture shows the right number (three), but the card picture says four. On page 14, step 14 seems to include a skinny that has no purpose. Since I couldn’t figure out what to do with the card, I built the ship without it and had no problems. Aside from this all the instructions are clear cut and assembly is simple. These books are designed for ages ten and older, so younger builders may need the help of an adult. When you’re finished, put the pirate that comes with the book on the deck.

A few of the creations require more than one pack of cards, but Klutz sells those in packs of two for $10.95. I had a lot of fun building my pirate ship, which measures fifteen inches tall, about seventeen inches long, and seven inches wide. If I want to design another vessel, I can easily take the cards apart and begin again. The more cards I have, the bigger the ships and the greater the number of them that I can build. Great fun and an educational treasure, too!

Notes: I recently heard from Doug Stillenger, and he has fixed the error on page 11.

The extra card on page 14 is no longer included in the artwork.
Also, Melissa Bloomfield, a publicist at Scholastic Books, is the mysterious sender of this book.