Nice Book, Dad.

The old bias goes: pirates were the bad boys who robbed and pillaged the innocent. In William Gilkerson’s beautifully illustrated page turner, “Pirate’s Passage,” the story follows young Jim and his mysterious mentor Captain Johnson in 1950’s Nova Scotia. A rich education coated in adventure—ideal for children or adults who find themselves in need of some sea-worthy fun-yet-educational-yet-fun reading.

From elephant journal, Summer 2007.

“Steeped in wit, philosophy and mystical ambiguity, William Gilkerson’s Pirate’s Passage takes a maverick approach to history. A challenging children’s novel with a dangerous edge, Pirate’s Passage is a work of genius, a benchmark in Canadian literature.”

Pirate’s Passage, by William Gilkerson, Trumpeter Books, Boston, 2006 (distributed by Random House) 364 pages, with 50 line illustrations.

After winning the Governor General’s Award for Children’s Literature in 2006, Pirate’s Passage has been reprinted in several editions in North America and abroad (most recently in Russian), and is currently being made into a 10-part animated film series by the actor Donald Sutherland, whose voice is that of the captain, the book’s storyteller. The book itself has gethered scores of favorable reviews, all of which have been best summarized by columnist and reviewer Silver Donald Cameron in his column of April 27, 2008: