Aug 02, 2016 | ISBN 9780763689100 | 6-9 years
Duddle punctuates his larger-than-average prose with theatrical verse ("Some say we’re cursed, some say we’re dead! / We’re in search of a key as you sleep in bed!") and tucks in plenty of elaborately detailed monochrome illustrations featuring a likewise monochrome cast of comically clueless white landlubbers and leering corsairs in classic pirate garb. A rousingly melodramatic face-off ends as it should, whereupon the Jolley-Rogers sail off once again…A pleaser for young swashbucklers.
—Kirkus Reviews
This early chapter book is full of intrigue, spookiness, and pirate tales that will capture the attention of emerging and struggling readers. Gray-scale illustrations show Duddle’s attention to artistic detail, and his creative use of black backgrounds and white text whenever characters are plunged into darkness heightens the feel of danger and excitement. More adventures ahoy! Book two, The Jolley-Rogers and the Cave of Doom, publishes simultaneously.
—Booklist
The Jolley-Rogers is distinguished by its top-notch writing, original sea chanteys, dry humor, lively design and deliciously dramatic illustrations just right for a tale of salty ghost pirates. (The second in the series, The Jolley-Rogers and the Cave of Doom, is published simultaneously.) All aboard, me hearties!
—Shelf Awareness for Readers
