Scallywag on the Salish Sea

Scallywag on the Salish Sea is about an orphan who was won in a bet. While cleaning fish on a pirate ship, the lad discovers treasure in the guts of fish caught in the Salish Sea. He uses this information to bargain his freedom from the pirate ship’s captain, Gallows. The protagonist in this story has no name. He responds to Kitchen Boy, Kitch, and eventually Rubyheart. Captain Gallows redirects the ship to the site where the jewel-laden fish were caught in the quest for the chest that holds the ruby and emerald treasures! Another pirate ship chases them down, and a battle between the two ships’ captains erupts. During this fight, it is revealed that Gallows had rescued the kitchen boy as a baby and then, in pity, (not a popular pirate trait) placed him on someone’s porch! It turns out the captain of the other pirate ship, Heinous Henry, had the boy’s mother as a captive cook on his ship, but she escaped. The boy hopes in forthcoming adventures to discover his real name and find his mother.

Sara Cassidy is a widely published poet and accomplished children’s author. This book has what it takes to be a real thriller for kids. The descriptive language, songs, action and details provided by the author are good, but it is disappointing in that the narration fails to evoke the main character’s epic adventure! There is so much packed into the plot: an orphan, a mysterious connection with Captain Gallows, treasure, pursuit, sword fights, mutiny! When reading this book, one is reminded of “The Adventures of Tintin” series. There is even an animal partner (like Snowy the dog from Tintin) in the form of Meringue, the seagull. However, this story has too many scenes that plead to be told with more illustration. For example, there are some very funny scenes, including the one in which a knife is thrown, the main character dodges it, and the knife embeds itself in the leg (made of wood) of one of the pirates. Another example of a humourous scene involves the banter between two pirates who are arguing about who is following whom. The narrative of these two scenes would be spectacular and hilarious in graphic novel form! Given that the fantastic Mike Deas was the illustrator for the novel, it seems like all the ingredients are there for a real gem! The story may well have been better told had Deas been given the same plot to co-create a graphic novel with Cassidy. The plot finds breath and life on the pages where Mike Deas’ illustrations have been implemented.

Unfortunately, the promising plot of Scallywag on the Salish Sea fell short of grabbing this reviewer’s interest.