The Price of Freedom

July 1, 2011

Gr 7 Up-First mate Jack Sparrow, 25, forsakes the honest life of a merchant seaman to become a pirate. Crispin weaves a detailed fantasy backstory of his adventures as a (usually) dedicated employee of the East India Trading Company in the 1700s. Jack treats men well, delights in strong women, and is true to his word. The beginning pages tell of a "lost city" shrouded by fog, invisible to sailors, and the home of a vast treasure of gold. When a pirate attack results in the death of the captain, Jack Sparrow, with his trademark swagger and dandified dress, takes over and finds himself dealing with Cutler Beckett, an ambitious executive of the EITC. Jack promises to help find the hidden island for a substantial cut of the gold, and it is this search that drives much of the story. There is plenty of drinking and wenching interrupted by bouts of swordplay and rich descriptions of life at Shipwreck Cove. The action moves briskly along at most points, enriched by sophisticated vocabulary, for these pirates ingest rum, strut insouciantly, and rest above the futtock shrouds. Jack's moral compass is shown to be true when he frees a cargo hold of slaves, and as punishment finds his ship set ablaze and headed to the bottom of the ocean. A desperate appeal to Davy Jones resolves the issue (though it costs Jack his soul), and the book ends where the movies begin: with Captain Jack Sparrow at the helm of The Black Pearl. Sure to be popular.-Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth, TX

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