Pirates! by Celia Rees

Nancy Kington, an heiress fleeing an arranged marriage, and Minerva Sharpe, a runway plantation slave, both find unlikely salvation on the pirate ship Deliverance. Life as a pirate is difficult enough, but can the two young women escape the cruel Captain Bartholome, who has pledged to follow them over the seven seas? And will Nancy's long-lost friend, a sailor in the Royal Navy, love the pirate she has become?

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I am so very sorry I didn't pick up this book sooner and I'm glad I bought it instead of borrowing the ragged copy at my library–no wonder it was so well-worn. Pirates! is a thrilling high seas venture with jolly pirates, Navy officers, and the scourge of the sea.
Many "pirate" novels and movies are filled with fantasy pirate lore and fictional accounts of the way the high seas were. In reality, however, the open ocean wasn't as romantic as anyone thinks. It was filled with death, gruesome tortures usually by the hand of the British or Spanish Empire, and slave trade. The Caribbean was founded on slavery, but it strived for freedom. As the story of Nancy and Minerva unfolds, you see the true side of pirates as well as a cunningly crafted adventure of excitement and elements of the high seas that are very near reality.
Although I have to admit I'll probably come close to loving any pirate novel you place in my lap, what I like about Pirates! is that Rees is so very realistic about the way she presented Nancy's circumstances. Remember those stories about Davy Jones? (Yeah, the guy with the tentacles from Pirates of the Caribbean.) Instead of having some half-fish, half-man creature lurk in the dark blue waves trying to find Nancy, Davy Jones becomes something of a true form combined with a terrifying curse. As this cunning figure chases Nancy over the deep blue waters, a much grander tales is spun as Nancy continues to search for her true love.
Pirates! is told in third person. While this doesn't allow room for very many personal connections between Nancy and Minerva, it does encourage a lot of imagination use. How Rees incorporates legend with real life is the best thing this pirate themed novel can offer while still being just as exciting as floating islands, The Flying Dutchman, and Johnny De– er, Jack Sparrow. I read Pirates! in one day and, even though its been several weeks since I put it down, I can still taste salt water.

Recommendation: Highly recommend. Have some extra pocket money to purchase it? Don't hesitate, it's a darn good story. For ages 14+.


This Book is For: Teens who enjoy pirates, adventure, history, or a real page-turner
This Book is Not For: Those weary of heart or sailers who don't have sea legs


Content: Graphic images of death and a few sexual remarks; PG-13


The Last Straw: A passage from the prologue:
If our story seems a little extravagant, to have something of the air of a novel, I may assure you that this is not fiction. Our adventures need no added invention, rather I find myself forced to leave out certain details in order not to shock. You will read of many things, both strange and terrible.....


|Pages: 379|Published: 2003|Publisher: Bloomsbury|Price: Soft. $8.99|
|Genre: Adventure, pirates, historical fiction, 1700s|
|Age Group: YA, ages 14+|Content: PG-13|
|Enjoyed It: 5/5|Content Rating: 3/5|Cover: 4/5|
|Overall: 5/5|

Reader Rally: Angie Frazier, Pirates in My Mailbox, Library Photos

. Debut Author Spotlight . 
Another Spotlight commin' right up! Like the last "Spotlight" featuring Anastasia Hopcu's debut novel, Shadow Hills? Let me hear your voice–comment! As for this next debut author, whose book actually came out last month, I wholeheartedly intended to buy her book but I couldn't actually find it at any of the bookstores :( I really wish they'd make more room for these kinds of books, instead they have a whole entire shelf dedicated to paranormal/vampire fiction (which is fine if you're into that genre). I hope this debut author's novel gets to grace my bookshelf soon!


ANGIE FRAZIER - Everlasting (June 1st, 2010)

Sailing aboard her father’s trade ship is all seventeen-year-old Camille Rowen has ever wanted. But as a girl of society in 1855 San Francisco, her future is set: marry a man she doesn’t love, or condemn herself and her father to poverty.
On her final voyage before the wedding, the stormy arms of the Tasman Sea claim her father, and a terrible family secret is revealed. A secret intertwined with a fabled map, the mother Camille has long believed dead, and an ancient stone that wields a dangerous—and alluring—magic.
The only person Camille can depend on is Oscar, a handsome young sailor whom she is undeniably drawn to. Torn between trusting her instincts and keeping her promises to her father, Camille embarks on a perilous quest into the Australian wilderness to find the enchanted stone.

Angie Frazier is a writer, mom, freelance editor, a good cook, and a horrible housekeeper. Angie’s debut novel, Everlasting, will be published in 2010 by Scholastic Press, and is a mixture of everything she loves in a good book: history, mystery, adventure, romance, and fantasy. Her middle grade novel, Suzanna Snow and the Mystery of the Midnight Tunnel, will be published in 2011. She lives in southern New Hampshire with her husband and their two daughters. - copied from Angie's Goodreads page

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You can visit Angie at:

{www.angiefrazier.com} 

{angie-frazier.livejournal}

Don't forget to....... Become a fan on Goodreads | Follow on Twitter @angie_frazier

. My Trip to the Phoenix Public Library . 

As you might have read in previous Reader Rally posts I went on a trip to Phoenix, Arizona in June. During my stay there I got to visit the Phoenix Downtown Public Library branch... it was huge! Five stories to be exact with the top floor dedicated to nonfiction, the 3rd magazines/archives, and half of the 4th floor is entirely for YA books! To me the most impressive floor is the 5th or maybe the archives room. Thought you guys would like to see some pictures:

(Left) See? Five stories! (Right) The very impressive-looking elevator. Click to view larger pictures.

(Left) A pictures I snapped while flipping through the pages of a 1950s Ladies Home Journal magazine in the archives room. (Right) The rows and rows of book in the fiction section.

. What's In My Mailbox .

Since I haven't had a IMM post in awhile there is a lot of books to show. Some of them I purchased while in Phoenix and others I got at Hastings (they are still having a summer reading sales booklet for kids/teens). I also got to go to the famous ⇒Changing Hands⇐ bookstore in Tempe, Arizona. The YA section was pretty big. Lots of used books :)

(Left Photo: My Pirate Book Collection)

Pirates by Celia Rees (indie bookstore)

Isle of Fire (Book 2 in the Pirate Adventures) by Wayne Thomas Batson (Sam's Club)

Pirates: Scourge of the Sea by Jone Reeve Carpenter (Changing Hands)

The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner (Borders)

(Right Photo)

Circle of Blood (Forenstic Mystery #3) by Alene Ferguson (Hastings)

Song of the Sparrows by Lisa Ann Sandell (Changing Hands)

Ruined by Paual Morris (Borders)

Faithful by Janet Fox (Borders)

I've actually read Ruined, Faithful, and Song of the Sparrows all of which I loved! I have an extra copy of Pirates by Celia Rees as well as Faithful and Ruined. I wonder what I shall do with those....

A Thousand Years of Pirates by William Gilkerson

For as long as they’ve existed, pirates have conjured up visions of high-seas adventure and skullduggery, sea chases and bloody battles, dangerous coastal lairs and buried treasure. Rightly so, for ever since ships have carried valuable cargo, pirates have enraged monarchs and struck terror into the hearts of honest seamen with their willingness to risk life and limb for an undeserved share of the riches. Whether the cargo was gold or silver, spices or silks, animal or human, there have always been villains ruthless enough to kill or be hanged for it.

From the days of the Vikings to the present and in all the oceans of the world, pirates have made their presence known and feared. Recorded here are their stories along with striking images of ships, storms at sea, and secret harbors where “black ships” could be re-stocked and refitted.

Award-winning author and artist William Gilkerson has spent years researching and painting their colorful history. From the terrible Black Beard to the fascinating Granuaile, or Grace O’Malley as the English called her, they have come to life under his brush. One can almost hear the creak of timbers, the snap of canvas while turning the pages. This gift book is a rich treasure in its own right.

I love books about pirates. I don't know why. Maybe it's the adventure? The mystery and fiction that surrounds these figures in history? Or maybe I just like history. "Pirates" or rather privateers and buccaneers have been continually fictionalized by Hollywood movies, books, and other works of fiction for at least a century. Ever since their role in the Revolutionary War, pirates on a big scale have almost vanished. True, there will always be "pirates", people who steal, but the buccaneers were special, they were different. Gilkerson's book was very fascinating for me because not only did it bring new light these courageous beings, but explained a lot about who the buccaneers really were like. Forget Captain Jack Sparrow and his eye for gold, the buccaneers stole and plundered for an entirely different reason while the privateers were paid to attack. If "pirates" in general were just common thieves and thugs, who were these noble Privateers and rebel Buccaneers? Why did history cover them up as criminals? What were they really like?
I really enjoyed all of Gilkerson's paintings and drawings throughout the book and I can't wait to read his award-winning YA novel, Pirate's Passage. 

|Pages: 94|Year Published: Nov. 2009|Publisher: Tundra|
|Genre: Nonfiction, pirates|Age Group: Ages 10+|
|Overall|