Capt. Hook

August 29, 2005
Swimming against the books-to-film tide, this novel from the screenwriter of Steven Spielberg's Hook
attempts to explain how the captain's childhood made him the nefarious pirate he became. (It's his father's fault.) The author takes the scant details about Hook in J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan
("piercing" blue eyes, mustard-colored blood, a fondness for trends set by King Charles II) and spins them into a backstory beginning the day 15-year-old James, the illegitimate son of "Lord B," arrives at Eton. The upperclassmen, led by house captain Arthur Darling, identify him immediately as in need of comeuppance and hang him with the moniker James Matthew "Bastard." (Readers never learn James or Lord B's real last name—is the author suggesting Hook was Barrie?) A sharp student and accomplished swordsman, James relishes the notoriety. He and best friend, "Jolly Roger" Davies, become victims of vicious hazing, but perpetrators of equally nasty revenge. They triumphantly lead the underclassmen to victory against Darling's gang in a traditional Eton game, while the Queen and a visiting princess (for whom James falls) look on. James leaves Eton in a blaze of glory, but the story slogs on past this natural end. The author attempts to turn the heretofore conscienceless James into a hero when the fellow saves some Africans from a slaver's ship. The dialogue adds sparkle ("Topping swank!" is a compliment of the highest order) as do Helquist's occasional full-page black-and-white drawings, which emit an air of swashbuckling brio often missing from the text. Ages 10-up.

October 10, 2005
Keating's clipped British accent and crisp pronunciations are just right for this story of the imagined adolescence of Captain Hook, Peter Pan's nemesis in J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan
. Fifteen-year-old James, the illegitimate son of "Lord B." and a mother he never knew, is in for a tough time when he arrives, long black curls and all, at Eton to be schooled amongst a bunch of blue-blood snobs. The harsh bullying from fellow students and the clever revenge strategies of King Jas., as he began calling himself, lay the groundwork for Hook's future life of skullduggery. Hart, who penned the screenplay for Steven Spielberg's film Hook
, also takes James from the halls of Eton to the high seas, leaving listeners with a fleshier portrait of a character they thought they already knew. Though younger listeners may be thrown by some of the sophisticated phrasing and depth of detail, most kids will enjoy elements of a boys-at-prep-school, tit-for-tat tale. Keating's sneering characterization of vicious upperclassman Arthur Darling is particularly sharp. Ages 10-up.