Pirates & Privateers: Books for Pirate Apprentices -- Graphic Novels

Blackbeard's Sword
by Liam O’Donnell
illustrated by Mike Spoor
Stone Arch Books, 2007, ISBN 978-1-59889-309-0, US $17.95

In 1718, Jacob and his father help Lieutenant Maynard hunt for the infamous Blackbeard. They are the pilots and Jacob is supposed to make certain Jane doesn’t run aground. But he hasn’t come to capture Blackbeard. He’s there to save the notorious pirate, and his lie about the water’s depth forces the ship onto a sandbar.

During the ensuing engagement between the pirates and the navy, Jacob finds himself in the midst of a bloody battle. No longer does he find pirates such great heroes. Can the men of Jane win the day? Or does Jacob’s lie spell their doom?

A mix between a comic book and a chapter book, this rousing adventure – seen through the eyes of a young lad – shows how we sometimes idealize those we shouldn’t and why. The tale is straightforward and easy to read, while the colorful pictures bring the story to life. The violence is depicted but never graphic. The glossary provides pronunciations and definitions of words readers may not know. There is a brief historical recap of pirates and Blackbeard, as well as discussion questions and writing prompts that guide children to explore deeper. Blackbeard’s Sword is a melding of fact and fiction that relates a true event in a way children will understand.

Reviews of Liam O'Donnell's nonfiction books

The Circus Comes to Town
adapted by Howie Dewin
Scholastic, 2006, ISBN 978-0-439-89726-6, US $4.99 / CAN $6.50

King of the Pirates
by Michael Antony Steele
Scholastic, 2006, ISBN 978-0-439-89719-8, US $4.99 / CAN $6.50

A wealthy pirate, Gold Roger stands on the gallows awaiting the hangman’s noose. Before he dies, he tells the crowd, “My fortune is yours for the taking. But you’ll have to find it first. I left everything I own in one piece.” Pirates everywhere vow to find Roger’s “One Piece – the treasure that would make even the wildest dreams come true.”

Based on Shonen Jump's One Piece animated series, the pirates in The Circus Comes to Town are under the leadership of Buggy the Clown, who has a map that will lead them to One Piece. Only two things stand in their way: Luffy and a young girl named Nami, who steals Buggy’s treasure map right out from under his bulbous nose. All Luffy wants is food and a crew for his ship, and he thinks Nami would make a great navigator. She has no intention of becoming a pirate. Buggy’s men are hot on their trail and to save herself, she betrays Luffy and joins Buggy’s crew. What she doesn’t expect is for the captain to make her kill Luffy. How will they get out of this predicament? Will Luffy’s friends, Koby and the Pirate Hunter Zolo, arrive in time?

In King of the Pirates, two sailors spy a bobbing barrel near their cruise ship and bring it aboard. Before they can discover what treasure lies within, the lookout spots a pirate ship. Koby is a reluctant pirate-in-training under the command of Captain Alvida. After they successfully capture the cruiser, Koby discovers the barrel and opens it. He never expects to see a strange boy inside. Monkey D. Luffy, Luffy for short, isn’t scared of Alvida or the pirates. He just wants to eat! The thieves have different plans for Luffy and in the ensuing battle, they discover he can stretch and stretch and stretch his body until he utters three special words and becomes like a boomerang that quickly defeats the pirates. Luffy, who wants to be the king of pirates, agrees to drop Koby, who wants to join the royal navy, at the nearest port. The adventures that await them there are not what either of them expects.

These adaptations of animated characters provide youngsters with rousing adventures that combine the fantastic with dangerous encounters while in search of treasure.

Tell No Tales: Pirates of the Southern Seas
by Sam Maggs
illustrated by Kendra Wells
Amulet Books, 2021, ISBN 978-1-4197-3966-8, US $21.99 / CAN $27.99 / UK £15.99

While plundering the Caribbean, La Sirene barely escapes an encounter with a fearsome machine that navigates the sea belching black smoke. Captain Anne Bonny and her crew – Mary Read (the quartermaster and Anne’s current lover), Kati (gunner and Miskitu refugee), Mimba (navigator and maroon), and Sarah (healer and rich girl of mixed parentage) – refuse to allow this newcomer to thwart their pillaging. They sight a Spanish galleon, but before they can attack, the monstrous steamship reappears. When Mary catches a glimpse of its captain, she warns Anne to flee. They seek the safety of the galleon, even though the Spanish don’t take kindly to pirates.

Knowing La Sirene is no match for this new enemy that seems to be stalking them, Anne sets sail for Jamaica. Once on the island, Mary reveals what she knows – the man targeting them is the ghost of Woodes Rogers, a man who makes a pact with the devil. This revelation is confirmed when Calico Jack Rackham, Anne’s former lover whom they meet at a Jamaican tavern, reveals that pirates are vanishing in large numbers.

Never one to turn tail and run, Anne is determined to put an end to this new enemy. But how? A vision reveals there is a way, but to succeed the Sirens must display bravery, cunning, conviction, strength, and kindness. Of course, nothing is as simple as it seems and the best laid plans always go awry, as Anne and her Sirens soon discover.

Set in the Caribbean in 1715, this graphic novel is loosely based on history and, if readers can suspend disbelief, an intriguing divergence from the normal Anne Bonny-Mary Read story. The drawbacks here as regards Woodes Rogers as the villain are that he is very much alive in 1715 (he doesn’t die until 1732) and has returned to London from a voyage to Madagascar, rather than being in the Caribbean. Another negative element to the story is that it glorifies piracy to some degree. There are also a few confusing situations where readers have to infer what transpires.

Before the members of the crew are introduced, it’s difficult to determine whether the graphics portray females or males, and that may be the intent since Maggs and Wells “wanted to reclaim some of our lost history – the history of women and non-binary and queer folks that must have existed, but has been hidden or kept quiet.” (157) Therein lies the value of this retelling. This is the story of individuals who are marginalized and/or shunned by society. They want acceptance for who they are, rather than what society wants them to be.