THE PIRATE MEETS THE QUEEN

Embroidering his first-person historical tale a bit (“It’s the way of storytelling,” says he in a closing note), Faulkner recounts the exploits of fierce Irish pirate Granuaile (more often known as Grace, or Grania) O’Malley, from birth, through early buccaneering, to a climactic, intrepid face-off with fiery Queen Elizabeth—here dubbed “Red Liz”—after her piratical son’s capture. Buckling swash from first scene to last, sword at hip and long red hair blowing in the sea breezes, O’Malley cuts a decidedly heroic figure in the swirling, action-filled illustrations—as does the differently clad but equally dominant (and carrot-topped) Elizabeth. The details may differ, but this rendition is just as stirring as Emily Arnold McCully’s The Pirate Queen (1995), and will leave readers awash in admiration for its self-assured narrator. (source list) (Picture book. 8-10)