This is a ground-breaking piece of non-fiction written in diary form in the voice of nine year old cabin boy - Jake Carpenter and brilliantly illustrated by none other than illustrator of the moment, Chris Riddell. All action boys and girls will revel in the adventures of derring-do on the high seas. Published originally some years ago it won the Kate Greenaway Medal and the Blue Peter Book Awards: Best Book with Facts. It offers detailed information ion swords, pistols, cannons, floggings and how to navigate ships. It includes a fact section at the back about the colonies, the first pirates, viking raiders, buccaneers, famous pirates throughout history and piracy today. It also includes an index and glossary.
These are the swashbuckling adventures of Jake Carpenter, cabin boy. The twenty-third of September, 1716. I write this on my last day at home. Tomorrow I am to join my Uncle Will aboard his ship and become A SAILOR. Will has told me of sea monsters and mermaids and has sailed through a hurricane. Maybe I shall see these things FOR MYSELF! Nine-year-old Jake Carpenter does indeed see all this - and more, when his ship, the Greyhound, is captured by pirates and he discovers the thrills and perils of life at sea as he embarks on an exciting new life on the wrong side of the law.
Gory and glorious - fiction underpinned by facts in a rip-roaring yarn by Richard Platt, sumptuously illustrated by Chris Riddell. Sunday Times
Author
About Richard Platt
As an artist I've written about 60 books, mostly factual books for children. My first children's book was Incredible Cross Sections, which had fantastic illustrations by Stephen Biesty. One of the things I enjoy most about writing is that it gives me the chance to work with wonderful illustrators. When Chris Riddell drew the pictures for Castle Diary and Pirate Diary he managed to capture the characters of all the people in the stories exactly as I'd imagined them. I also love writing because people pay me to find out all this fascinating stuff about strange, wacky and obscure subjects. I spend far more time than I should trying to find amazing facts that bring a subject to life. I trawl through books at home (I've got 2500) and in dusty libraries.
