The Hippie Pirates by Lana Shupe, with illustrations by Caroline Clarke, has adventure, time travel, and history. Mostly, this is a story about relationships. Three siblings, Kent, Ryan, and Amy visit their grandparents, affectionately called the Hippie Pirates. The kids arrive at Ocean’s Edge excited to spend time with their grandparents with no idea what is really in store. The grandparents feel it’s high time the kids become better acquainted with the source of travel within their adventure stories. Prior to this visit, the siblings never really knew what the winks between their grandparents were about, thinking only they shared a close bond with each other and with them.
“The Hippie Pirates by Lana Shupe, with illustrations by Caroline Clarke, has adventure, time travel, and history.”
This is true but with a bit more of a twist in the tale. That twist comes in a VW time-travelling-pirate-ship van! The mode of transport is skillfully created by the author as an adventure van. Lana Shupe keeps the characters Kent, Ryan, and Amy, and her readers guessing as the story unfolds. Are the grandparents forgetting what’s real and what’s imagined from their travels? The kids pass it off as good-natured storytelling on their relatives’ part.
“When they returned from any adventure, the hippie pirates had spectacular stories to tell about how they got the latest scratch, bump, or ding – and there was always a new scratch, bump, or ding. A triangle-shaped dent on the back bumper showed up upon their return from Egypt. ‘Got that one when we accidentally backed into a pyramid. We were trying to get away from a mummy that had escaped its tomb’. … Kent was a little skeptical of his grandparents’ stories. He suspected the mummy had been a museum guide wrapped in toilet paper, pretending for the tourists. But he loved the story just the same.”
When the adventure rolls out the group finds themselves magically transported back in time to an area very close to the Ocean’s Edge cottage. The year is 1785 and it’s the new beginning of the establishment of Birchtown, Nova Scotia. The action begins when the kids are left to explore the unfamiliar surroundings “in their own backyard”. They soon encounter strange sights, red-coated soldiers, and a Black Loyalist their age, Samuel. There is a connection made between the kids and Samuel, but can his advice be counted on or will it lead them into danger? Does Samuel have any reason to trust this group of misfits appearing out of nowhere? This puts Kent, Ryan, and Amy on red alert.
The relationships are tested between the siblings, with each other, and with their grandparents. With the relationships and interplay between the characters as a central focus, it was interesting to learn about the Black Loyalists in Nova Scotia over 230 years ago! This shines a light on our relationship with our past, bringing more historical questions to mind. Some of these questions are posted at the conclusion of the book for further research if desired.
The Hippie Pirates is a fun and informative chapter book and a delightful addition to home and school libraries. As book one in a proposed series, you’ll want to read The Hippie Pirates by Lana Shupe to find out where the kids and their grandparents end up next!
Lana Shupe fell in love with books when she was a toddler and has never stopped loving them. Telling and writing stories has always been a part of her life. Her house is full of books and she reads anywhere she can find a spot. Her first book, The Lonely Little Lighthouse, was published by Nimbus Publishing in 2022.
A St. John’s-based musician and graphic designer, Caroline Clarke has a penchant for illustration and printmaking. Since 2004, when she began to make prints, she has had four shows at the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Gallery and participated in many local craft and print fairs. One of her favourite commissions over the years has been to create artwork used for the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival. Her illustrations feature in The Mystery of the Portuguese Waltzes, published by Running the Goat in 2019.
- Publisher : Running the Goat; first in a planned series edition (July 11 2023)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 120 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1998802043
- ISBN-13 : 978-1998802043
