Backbeard and the Birthday Suit
This book is currently out of print and is not available for purchase.
2006, Walker and Co.
ISBN Hardcover: 0802780652
ISBN Paperback: 080279680X
Sure, pirates are rough and tough and stinky. But after one particularly rowdy birthday party, even Backbeard must admit that it’s time for him to buy a new suit. With the local clothing shop out of all the traditional pirate garb, even a pirate as ornery as Backbeard can’t always get what he wants. Backbeard’s unusual new birthday suit will either make him the laughingstock of the whole ship, or the most stylish pirate to ever raise the Jolly Roger.
“Backbeard is the hairiest, toughest pirate ever, but following a particularly rowdy birthday party, even he admits that he’s a mess and it’s that time for new duds. The clothing store doesn’t have pirate gear, but it does have a straw boater, colorfully patterned trousers, a coat, and a pig––not the look Backbeard expected though one that brings both surprises and delights. Pirate fans will enjoy this witty tale about a coarse pirate who discovers his inner fashionista; it juxtaposes traditional pirate characters (Sweaty McGhee, Mad Garlic Jack, etc.) and dialogue (“Drivelswigger!”) with a glimpse at a scallawag’s softer side (“Do your worst, you barnacled scalawags! . . . But wrinkle my suit and you’ll swab the deck for a year!”). McElligott’s mixed-media art is a joy, incorporating pattern, texture, and detailed, cartoonlike characters with scanned photographic images and sepia-toned borders that add depth and vintage flavor to a cheerful package.”
Backbeard: Pirate for Hire
This book is currently out of print and is not available for purchase.
2007, Walker and Co.
ISBN Hardcover: 080279632X
ISBN Paperback: 0802722652
Backbeard may have a new suit, but he is still one of the orneriest, smelliest, and hairiest pirates ever to sail the high seas. And his crew still likes to smash and steal things—they just prefer to do it in style. Unfortunately, certain members of the Pirate Council don’t think he looks piratey enough in his new garb, and since they are just as stubborn as Backbeard, it’s their way or the waterway.
Unwilling to give up his birthday suit, Backbeard sets out in search of new employment. He can pillage and plunder with the best of them, but who’ll dare to hire a dirty, smelly ex-pirate?
“Having transformed himself and his crew into fashionistas (of a sort) in Backbeard and the Birthday Suit, the huge and hirsute Captain finds himself called before the Pirate Council for dress-code violations in this even better sequel. Ordered to exchange his eye-watering pink and green duds for more conventional garb or find another occupation, Backbeard sets out to look for work—landing, after several false starts, in a tea shop run by an uncommonly unflappable little old lady. A true spectacle, from red silk shoes to snappy boater, Backbeard really steps out in style across McElligott’s loud-pattern-drenched settings. His crew, from Mad Garlic Jack to swashbuckling Scarlet Doubloon, isn’t far behind—in fact, they burst in to the rescue when he’s left in charge and the tea shop’s blue-haired clientele turns ugly. Sandwiched between original and modified “Pirate Rules” on the endpapers, as well as hilarious jacket art, this knee-slapper rivals even Colin McNaughton’s Captain Abdul’s Little Treasure for freewheeling freebooter frivolity.”
