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Kelpies
Series
Pyrate's Boy
Paperback
November 2013
9781782500131
More details
- Publisher
Floris Books - Published
8th November 2013 - ISBN 9781782500131
- Language English
- Pages 288 pp.
- Size 5.125" x 7.75"
$9.95
"The boy looks about seven or eight years old and should weigh next to nothing. And yet it takes four men to drag him out of the water. We soon realize why. Padlocked around his ankle is a thick metal chain, which plummets right down to the sea's bottom. If we want to save him, we have to pull up the chain. And whatever is at the end of it."...
Silas Orr, an 11-year-old runaway from Greenock, is saved from certain death by Captain Jon Harkin, also known as the infamous pirate Black Johnnie. Choosing to stay aboard, he becomes pirate's boy on the feared ship Tenacity. Now the crew have rescued another drowning boy, but this one has a lead box chained to his ankle. What could be precious enough to keep safe with a human buoy? Whatever it is, someone will come looking for it.
Silas must help Johnnie discover the child's secret and outwit their pursuers. But life on the high seas isn't easy. Silas' adventures become more and more dangerous as he escapes from an erupting volcano, navigates through treacherous coral reefs, and encounters a knife-wielding, cartwheeling girl. The pirates' exploits take them from Jamaica to Glasgow...but what awaits Silas there?
(Ages 8 to 12 years)
“This is a terrific swashbuckling adventure which combines a vivid sense of place with page-turning urgency and a roster of charismatic characters, particularly the pyrates. This is quite simply a novel of most excellent storytelling, transporting the reader across oceans and back in time at pace which never flags and always surprises.”—Catherine Forde, author of Sugarcoated and Fatboy Swim
“ This swashbuckling adventure...offers a story of interesting characters, darkest villains, and a rattling good pace that keeps the surprises coming thick and fast.... Its plot, pace, and characters make this story live and brings new impetus to an old genre. Recommended.”—Armadillo
“Blackmail, mutiny, and an erupting volcano all contribute to the page-turner, but it is the bond between the captain and Silas that makes this story a page-earner. An exciting adventure with a tender heart.”—Kirkus
E. B. Colin
E. B. Colin Colin is a former journalist who now lectures in Creative Writing at Strathclyde University while she writes short stories for both children and adults, as well as BBC radio plays. Her work has been shortlisted for a British Book Award, a Saltire Award, and a Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year Award.