February 1, 2015
Gr 5-8-Thirteen-year-old orphan Dean Seaborne has been a spy for One-Eyed Jack the Pirate King ever since he can remember; it's a life he hates but can't escape. After a misadventure involving a ship from the mysterious hidden island of Zenhala, where gold grows on trees, Dean learns that the crew thinks he might be the long-lost island Prince. This allows Dean to infiltrate the island on behalf of One-Eyed Jack, but as he encounters dangers and meets new friends, he resents his mission more and more-and he starts to wonder if he might truly be the prince. There is plenty of derring-do and swashbuckling in this fast-paced adventure, mostly provided by Dean, who not only wins fights with men twice his size but invents his own skateboard and sailboard, tames sea dragons, and speaks and behaves with quite a bit of polish for a boy who was raised by uneducated pirates. VERDICT Despite some credulity-straining plot elements and weak character development, this is a salty tale that most middle grade readers will enjoy.-Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library
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