The Jolley-Rogers and the Ghostly Galleon

May 15, 2016
It's living pirates vs. the other sort when ghost buccaneers repeatedly ransack the town of Dull-on-Sea.First met as picture-book Pirates Next Door (2012), the nautical Jolley-Rogers family sails back into view in a multichapter yarn--responding to young pirate-loving ex-neighbor Matilda's plea for help. It seems that every full moon brings dead Cap'n Twirlybeard and his knavish crew ashore in search of both plunder and a certain long lost key. According to Grandpa Rogers, only unlocking the sea chest that contains their scurvy souls can scupper the attacks. Can Matilda and her piratical friend Jim Lad find the missing key, keep it out of Twirlybeard's clutches, and sneak aboard the spectral pirate ship Black Rat to open the chest at last? Duddle punctuates his larger-than-average prose with theatrical verse ("Some say we're cursed, some say we're dead! / We're in search of a key as you sleep in bed!") and tucks in plenty of elaborately detailed monochrome illustrations featuring a likewise monochrome cast of comically clueless white landlubbers and leering corsairs in classic pirate garb. A rousingly melodramatic face-off ends as it should, whereupon the Jolley-Rogers sail off once again...and into the clutches of a trio of witchy "sea hags" in the co-published next episode, The Jolley-Rogers and the Cave of Doom. Now, it's Matilda's turn to come to the rescue.A pleaser for young swashbucklers. (glossary) (Fantasy. 8-10)

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July 1, 2016
Grades 1-4 After pirates plunder treasures from the Dull-on-Sea museum, the town panics, and Matilda sends a note to her pirate friend, Jim Lad, asking for help. When Jim's Jolley-Rogers family arrives, Grandpa Rogers announces the ghosts of Captain Twirlybeard and his crew are likely to blame! Matilda joins the Jolley-Rogers aboard their ship as they seek the spectral scalawags and unlock a surprising secret. This early chapter book is full of intrigue, spookiness, and pirate tales that will capture the attention of emerging and struggling readers. Gray-scale illustrations show Duddle's attention to artistic detail, and his creative use of black backgrounds and white text whenever characters are plunged into darkness heightens the feel of danger and excitement. More adventures ahoy! Book two, The Jolley-Rogers and the Cave of Doom, publishes simultaneously.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)