David Elliot: Pigtails the Pirate

Elliot's last creation was curious, innovative Sidney the penguin, and we can see the same talent at work here in this lively story of feisty, clever Jess who sails across the stormy sea to rescue her father who's been imprisoned by the fearsome giant Pigtails.

The illustrations are really evocative and, as in the Sidney books, his historically accurate backdrops firmly set a sense of time and place (England, late-19th century).

Random House

$29.95