Pirates have been a perennial favourite in literature going back to characters such as Long John 
Silver and Captain Hook. However there are also a wealth of pirates who actually lived and whose exploits formed the basis of these fictional stories. So, it is no wonder that we still have an abundance of stories which include these mythical sounding characters.
In this story, Kitty is the daughter of a ship’s captain and has spent her 11 years on board ship with her mother. Her father is presumed dead after a terrible storm sank his ship many years ago and her elder sister disappeared when Kitty was still very young. The world in which the story is set is a mix of old and new technologies; where the mighty ships that trade across the seas are powered by a substance called Marinium, which comes from a 5 yearly meteor shower. Unfortunately the supply of the rare substance is running out and both traders and pirates are in a desperate hunt to find more supplies, because if the ships run out of power, they will sink! Whilst Kitty and her mother’s ship the “Amazon Princess” are searching, Kitty discovers that her missing sister is now a much feared pirate queen, but can she be saved, or does she enjoy the life of a pirate?
This is a brilliantly swashbuckling and exciting story for middle grade children and will make a wonderful addition to collections for “Talk like a Pirate” day. Kitty is an engaging person who although still very young, is very determined to make the most of life at sea. Her best friend is called Scally and he is stowing away, as he had been branded as a pirate; his misuse of language reminds me of the character Mrs Malaprop (Sheridan, The Rivals) and the author has come up with some wonderful alternative words.
An aspect that I particularly enjoy is the inclusion of illustrations and information that are meant
to come from the book called “The Pirate’s Portolano”, which is designed as a guide to the sea world they inhabit and also the pirates who are the greatest danger. The “Amazon Princess” is a multi tiered vessel, with a similar number of decks to some of the mega-liners that cruise the world today. In some ways they remind me of the travelling cities imagined by Philip Reeve in “Mortal Engines” and by William Nicholson in the “Windsinger” series. The author has created a world that is both familiar and also strange, so that the audience is never quite sure what will happen next. Luckily the plot seems to suggest that we should be ready for another thrilling instalment in the future and I will definitely be looking forward to learning more about Kitty and her adventures.
About the Author
Victoria Williamson is an award-winning author from Glasgow, Scotland, who loved reading books and writing adventure stories from an early age. After studying Physics at the University of Glasgow, she set out on her own real-life adventures, which included teaching maths and science in Cameroon, training teachers in Malawi, teaching English in China and working with children 
with additional support needs in the UK.
Her previous novels include The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle, The Boy with the Butterfly Mind, Hag Storm, War of the Wind, The Pawnshop of Stolen Dreams, Norah’s Ark, The Whistlers in the Dark, Feast of Ashes, and Skyfleet: March of the Mutabugs. Her books have won the RED Book Award 2024, YA-aldi Glasgow Secondary School Libraries Book Award 2023 and the Bolton Children’s Fiction Award 2020/2021, and have been short-listed and long-listed for numerous other awards. War of the Wind and Norah’s Ark were also both nominated for the 2024 Yoto Carnegie Medals.
Victoria writes and edits Key Stage 2 books for the education company Twinkl. She spends the rest of her time writing novels and visiting schools, libraries and literary festivals to give author talks and run creative writing workshops. Her latest novel, Kittiwake Stormhaven and the Pirate’s Portolano, channels her love of pirates and swashbuckling adventure to create a steampunk world set on the seven seas, and is illustrated by the very talented James Brown.
You can find out more about Victoria’s books, school visits and free resources for schools on her website: www.strangelymagical.com
completely wrong about so many of my assumptions. This is one of those books that really makes you wonder about what is real and what is in the characters’ imagination.
exchange for the children being taken to the largest town in the region of Dickerson’s Sea. What follows is the most amazing and fantastical tale of pirates, spirits and the power of family and friendship. However, the pirates are undercover, after they were all banned fifteen years before and most were actually killed by the Queensmen, followers of the late lamented Queen Hail Meridian, who had also been killed in the uprising. The story is a complete roller-coaster ride, where you are not always sure what is real and what is a form of hallucination.
of a sailor and obeying orders from those more senior. Viola, on the other hand, wants to discover the mystery surrounding the book and also what happened during the bloody uprising, which took place when she was a very small child. The author has blended the main story, with a sub text about how seagulls can attack humans and turn them into spirits and giving them a silver circle within the eye. Viola discovers that she has this issue and yet she has not been turned into the spirit, although she does start to hear the voice of others.
I have been a great fan of both pirate stories and of Justin Somper for quite a few years. I remember meeting him at a book launch, not long after the first of his “Vampirates” books was published and I have watched his career with interest ever since. This new series about the “Pirate Academy” is aimed at an audience around the 8-12 age group and this is the second book in the series.
This is the second book about Pirates that I have had the pleasure of reading in the last few months. this one is aimed at a slightly older audience, age 8 years and above and definitely makes it onto the reading list for “Talk like a Pirate” day.
There is something quite fascinating about pirates and even ex-pirates; the stories have been sparking the imagination of readers both young and old for many years. As a child my first encounter with the idea was watching episodes of ‘Captain Pugwash’ on the television and then later on discovering the wonders of ‘Treasure Island’. If I thought really hard about it, I am sure that there were other pirates in books, but I definitely remember those to be found in the swashbuckling adventures of actors such as Errol Flynn and Burt Lancaster; Sunday afternoon was full of old films that kept us happy on a cold winter’s day. Today we have the whole range of films such as ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and ‘The Goonies’, as well as a host of books for all ages. As a librarian for a School Library Service I was constantly being asked for collections of titles about pirates and whilst there are lot of amazing titles about real-life buccaneers, it is also fantastic to be able to create imaginary worlds with a wide range of characters. This would definitely have been part of my collection at work..
the cabin boy aboard the vessel “The Black Hound” , but the crew are not what you might expect. They are all ex-pirates and have become ‘Pirate Investigators’ who help retrieve stolen treasure. This second adventure sees them asked to retrieve a precious gold goblet that has been stolen from Fergus McSwaggers, the chief of one of the clans in the Boglands; the only problem is that he is the brother of the cook on board the ‘Black Hound’ and they have not spoken for quite a while. The plot deepens as they try and discover who has stolen the goblet. The consensus is that it was probably a giant cat-like creature called the Mogdrod, that is feared but rarely seen and is said to love shiny things. When Flyntlock, his friend Red and the rest of the crew are captured by Gretel the Sea Witch, they discover that Mogdrod is her ‘Kitty’ and that she had taken the goblet. To further complicate the story, the treasure is then taken by the Ice Pirates and it is up to the crew to rescue it again.
Derek Keilty lives in Belfast and is the author of over ten books for children. His work has been translated into many different languages, selected for the Richard and Judy Club and shortlisted for the Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year.
Mark Elvins lives in Yorkshire. When he’s not drawing pirates he’s a print-maker and recently won an English Heritage competition to illustrate the displays at Whitby Abbey.
When you read that a book was instrumental in giving J R.R Tolkien the inspiration for his Hobbits, then it is time to get excited. The plot of the story is similar to frameworks that we have become used to over the last decades. The two main characters Pip and Flora are orphans and both find themselves living in a somewhat unusual orphanage. The owner, Miss Watkyns, is strict but the children are well looked after. However when a strange woman tries to kidnap Flora, the two children decide to run away and hide. They then accidentally pass through a magical door and find themselves in the land of the Snergs; these are small rather round individuals who have a love of eating cake and other sweet things. Our first introduction to these characters is through the person of Gorbo, who ends up being central to the whole story and helps the children navigate the strange world they find themselves in. The children soon discover that Flora is the target of a rather nasty witch called Mrs Meldrum, but the reason for this is unclear; however she turns out to be the same person who had tried to kidnap Flora at the beginning of the story. How they solve the mystery and save themselves and others from a terrible fate makes for a really tremendous adventure.
original version of the book is still in print and it is still possible to buy both an audio and e-book version. The original author would have appeared to be a bit of an adventurer in his youth but he started writing children’s books after World War I, perhaps as a respite from the horrors of war. the original book has been written with a slightly older audience in mind and the text is much fuller, with quite long sections of description and explanation. However it would be a great choice for avid readers who want to see how a story can have more than one way of being told.