Tattered sails against a full moon set the scene for The Jolley-Rogers and the Ghostly Galleon, the first in a swashbuckling series of illustrated early readers by Welsh author-artist Jonny Duddle (The Pirates Next Door; The King of Space).
The ghost pirates chant in the moonlight: "Some say we're cursed, some say we're dead!/ We're in search of a key as you sleep in bed!" Inky dark, atmospheric pages build suspense as the pirates crash to shore, daggers drawn, as the "mass of dark briny shadows surged across the beach" of the village of Dull-on-Sea. The very next morning, "Dull TV" goes wild with rumors of a break-in at the museum and eyewitness reports of pirates "[w]aving their cutlasses and singing and cursing and all excited." Young Matilda decides to write her best friend, a boy pirate named Jim Lad, to see if he and the other piratical Jolley-Rogers might have any clues to the theft. A parchment-bearing parrot brings the welcome news: "We be comin' to help!" Indeed, Grandpa Rogers knows all about the "lonnnng dead" Cap'n Twirlybeard and his ghostly crew, and how they seek the skeleton key they lost in a sea battle, a treasure-chest key with a carved skull top that will "save their souls." Can Matilda and Jim Lad restore peace in Dull-on-Sea?
The Jolley-Rogers is distinguished by its top-notch writing, original sea chanteys, dry humor, lively design and deliciously dramatic illustrations just right for a tale of salty ghost pirates. (The second in the series, The Jolley-Rogers and the Cave of Doom, is published simultaneously.) All aboard, me hearties! --Karin Snelson, children's & YA editor, Shelf Awareness