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Showing posts with label Heidi Schulz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Heidi Schulz. Show all posts
The Pirate Code is the second book to feature young Jocelyn Hook, daughter of the famous Captain James Hook. As with the first book, Schulz continues to delight readers with not only a fantastic story, but lots of humor, and a view of the Neverland that is quite different to our childhood imaginings.
Official blurb:
Fresh off a fearsome encounter with the Neverland crocodile, Jocelyn Hook decides the most practical plan is to hunt down her father's famous fortune. After all, she'll need the gold to fund her adventuring in the future. (And luckily, Hook left her the map.)
But the map proves to be a bit harder to crack than Jocelyn had hoped, and she's convinced that the horrible Peter Pan might be the only one with the answers. Of course, he doesn't really feel like helping her, so Jocelyn takes the only reasonable course of action left to her: she kidnaps his mother. Evie, though, is absolutely thrilled to be taken prisoner, so Jocelyn's daring ploy doesn't have quite the effect she'd planned for.
Along with the problem of her all-too-willing captive, Jocelyn must also contend with Captain Krueger, whose general policy is that no deed is too dastardly when it comes to stealing Hook's treasure. And with the ever-shifting Whens of the Neverland working against her as well, Jocelyn, Evie, Roger, and the rest of the Hook's Revenge crew have their work cut out for them.
In this rambunctious showdown between characters new and old, Jocelyn puts her own brand of pirating to the test in a quest to save her future and those she loves.
My thoughts in a few words: Funny and clever, unpredictable, beautifully imaginative.
Funny and clever.
The grumpy pirate narrator returns (never letting us forget that he really can't stand children and we are being quite a bother to him) and tells the story, interrupting every once in a while for a well-timed aside that's sure to make you smile.
While there are serious elements to the plot and character development as Jocelyn must overcome complications and re-evaluate how she views her friendships, there is a general lightheartedness about the book that makes it very easy to read and balances the serious bits very well.
Unpredictable
I really appreciate that despite this being a novel aimed at younger readers, Schulz doesn't go the route of creating the invincible protagonist--Jocelyn is, in the end, still a child and of course cannot single-handedly defeat adult pirates. Because of that, she must come up with alternative ways of overcoming her enemies. There are plenty of twists, unexpected defeats, and even the plot's resolution might come as a surprise to many readers.
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| Illustrations by John Hendrix |
There were a few scenes in the book that really stuck with me and which I thought were really brilliant. One is the forest that is fed by things children have left behind. What a fantastic concept. I love the concept of a tree that survives on a child's abandoned belief in magic, or fear of toads, or other things children at some point give up as they grow.
The other image I loved was the Jolly Roger sitting atop a mountain. I love abandoned things, so the idea of a lonely ship that once was a terror of Neverland's seas sitting on a mountain covered in snow was very evocative.
Definitely recommended for all ages of folk who like a rollicking adventure.
For more about Heidi Schulz, visit her piratey website. To buy The Pirate Code from your local independent bookstore, visit IndieBound.
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| The Monkey Island games: an exemplary series featuring pirate shenanigans of all sorts, not to mention demonic talking skulls, voodoo ladies, and ships of the damned - as any respectable pirate tale ought. |
I also love pirate stories. Treasure Island is one of my favorite books of all time. There really aren’t enough quality pirate books out there (though there are some excellent pirate computer games), so finding a fun, adventurous book which was also about pirates really made my day (thanks husband!)
Anyway, on to the book. Hook’s Revenge follows the
adventures of young Jocelyn Hook – daughter of the infamous Captain Hook (who she has never met). Jocelyn
takes after her pirate father in that she causes chaos and destruction wherever
she goes, despite being only twelve. In an attempt by her grandfather to
civilize her, she is sent away to finishing school where Miss Eliza Crumb-Biddlecomb does all she can
to whip her into shape. This goes as one might expect, with frustration and disastrous
results for all. That is until Jocelyn is whisked off to Neverland after receiving a message from
her recently dead father (composed before his death, of course. This isn’t that sort of book) setting her the task
of taking revenge on the Neverland crocodile in whose jaws he met his demise.I won’t spoil the plot, but it’s a great adventure with some very likable and some very dislikable characters all very well brought to life. The fact that Jocelyn does have moments where she fails or doesn't know what to do next makes her solid and someone you truly want to root for.
The storytelling moves at a good pace with lots of action and just the right amount of humor - perfect for both middle grade and older audiences alike. The narrator is one of the highlights of the book. He (?) is a rather cranky pirate who dislikes children and is only begrudgingly telling us the story because he’s getting older and the story ought to be told to someone. He isn’t ever-present, but he pops back in at regular intervals to remind us that we really are very annoying.
My only dislike of this book was the representation of Peter Pan, strangely enough. He is a very minor character, but he SO annoying. I would much have preferred that he not appear at all rather than have him be represented as a little dictator and such an ass. It is certainly a new take on a classic character, but I think it kind of ruins him for readers who might potentially go on to read Peter Pan for the first time. Of course, Peter was never completely likeable, even in his own book (“Oh the cleverness of me!”) but then again he was an archetype of boyhood, so who can blame him?
I also would have liked to have found that the hateful little girls at the finishing school eventually got their comeuppance, but perhaps that's something for the next book.
Altogether, I thoroughly enjoyed Hook's Revenge, but reading an advanced copy comes with the downside that I’ll have to wait even longer than everyone else for the second in the series.
For more about Heidi Schulz visit her piratey website. To pre-order Hook's Revenge visit Barnes and Noble, or order it to your local independent book store.
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