Rosen, Michael J. 
(Illustrated by Maria Cristina Pritelli) 
Sailing the Unknown: around the world with Captain Cook. 
Creative Editions. 
2012. 
ISBN 978-1-56846-216-5

What a delightful book for children this one is.  The key to it is the illustrations.  Rather than there being pages of text with some pictures now and then, many of the pages are devoted to single pictures, with little items dotted around the text on the other pages. 

They are all by Maria Cristina Pritelli, who is to be commended for taking the trouble to get so many features of the voyages, people and ships more or less accurate. 

Of the large pictures, I particularly like the one on page 23, showing Tayeto being (nearly) taken away by Maori off Cape Kidnappers, and the way Pritelli has captured on page 36 the huge height of the waves as Endeavour battles her way home. 

Only Cook’s First Voyage is covered, and the narrative is written as if by the 12 year-old Nicholas Young.  Page 8 is my favourite example of peppering text with images, with page 19 a close second.

I was enchanted by the book and look forward to showing it to children whenever I can.

Ian Boreham

Originally published in Cook's Log, page 36, volume 35, number 4 (2012).