From School Library Journal
Grade 2-4–In the midst of a friendly skirmish, pirate Captain Black loses his glass eye. Unbeknownst to him, it rolls off the ship and through a town, and is picked up by a poor man named Sandpiper. The eye, like a crystal ball, shows the pauper images of the pirate's life–"scenes of mischievous boyhood and scenes of crime and treason!" Fascinated, he begins to draw what he has seen, eventually creating a book called
The Pirate's Life, which he gives away to all the people who have helped him. Captain Black, who has been frantically searching for the missing orb, eventually finds the book in a town library. When he tracks down and confronts the pauper, Sandpiper hands the eye to its rightful owner. When Black looks through it, he sees the life of the pauper, "struggle and hardship.…generosity and kindness,"and is transformed in the process. Priest uses deceptively simple shapes and forms in the full-color, airbrushed enamel on clayboard art to keep the focus on the story. The text is well balanced and beautifully written, with playful repetition and alliteration and an economy of style. The sophisticated theme of the transformative power of seeing and understanding another person's viewpoint makes this unusual picture book best suited for older readers.–
Marge Loch-Wouters, Menasha's Public Library, WI Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
"Priest uses deceptively simple shapes and forms in the full-color, airbrushed enamel on clayboard art to keep the focus on the story. The text is well balanced and beautifully written, with playful repetition and alliteration and an economy of style." School Library Journal
"Priest puts an unexpected spin on the pirate tale." --Publishers Weekly Publishers Weekly
"Priest pairs elegantly composed, deceptively simple cartoon illustrations to an unusually rich and satisfying story." Kirkus Reviews
