'About this title' may belong to another edition of this title. –Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJĬopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. Funke's The Princess Knight (Scholastic, 2004) is a better choice for feminist fare, and David McPhail's Edward and the Pirates (Little, Brown, 1997) is a superior pirate story. She lives with her family in Los Angeles, California, in a house full of books. She is the author of The Thief Lord, Dragon Rider, Inkheart, Inkspell, the Ghosthunters series, When Santa Fell to Earth, and Igraine the Brave. Meyer's cartoon sketches resemble Quentin Blake's work, but some of the details are lost in the odd choice of a murky gray for skin tones. CORNELIA FUNKE is one of todays most beloved writers of magical stories for children. If the intention was to make a feminist statement, the story falls short of the mark, unless the message is that girls, too, can be nasty bullies.

While the plot is mildly amusing, it is also thin and predictable. Firebeard and his crew must now take over Molly's chores, and she sails happily off to Grandma's house. Caught in the act, she is about to be thrown overboard when rescue arrives in the person of her mother, the pirate Barbarous Bertha. Instead, she waits until the pirates fall asleep and tosses messages tucked into bottles out to sea.

Their intention is to hold her for ransom, but the stalwart girl refuses to divulge her parents' names and address despite endless chores and threats of being fed to the sharks. It is illustrated by Kerstin Meyer and translated by Chantal Wright. Kindergarten-Grade 2–Molly is sailing off to visit her grandmother when she is captured by ferocious Captain Firebeard and his cutthroat crew. Pirate Girl is a 2005 picture book by German author Cornelia Funke.

Pirate Girl by Cornelia Funke