Blackbeard's Last Fight (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Blackbeard's Last Fight Elizabeth Bush Kimmel, Eric A. Blackbeard's Last Fight; illus. by Leonard Everett Fisher. Farrar, 200 32p ISBN 0-374-30780-6$17.00 R Gr. 3-5 The picture-book shelves are well endowed with their share of pirates, generally of the comic, bumbling variety. Kimmel comes on deck with the real thing, or as close to the real thing as legend and a de rigueur fictionalized cabin boy can get. Here kids learn of the illegal expedition to rake out the nest of the treacherous Edward Teach, or Blackbeard, who was enjoying a full pardon in the Outer Banks of North Carolina when attacked by a private vessel commissioned by the Virginia governor. There's cunning strategy, deadly deception, "a hail of musket balls and bits of old iron," and dying men littering the decks—in short, just what the pirate-book crowd lines up for. This telling retains the more lurid details of the Blackbeard legend, so there's the added treat of watching Blackbeard's headless corpse circle the victors' ship three times before waving goodbye. Fisher's pictures aren't as graphic as one might expect Kimmel's bellicose text to inspire, and the squat shapes of his figures, especially their heads, are somewhat jarring; Blackbeard himself, though, is portrayed in all his glory, from his braided and beribboned facial hair to the gunner's matches illuminating the sides of his face. A closing note includes sources for Kimmel's research. Copyright © 2006 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois