Happily, Fitzgerald’s tale is accompanied by the rollicking vibrancy of Barrager’s art. Would that misogyny always rolled over so easily. The ending is more than a bit optimistic, as CeCe gains admission simply by redeclaring intentions with a smidgen more chutzpah. Nevertheless, an emboldened CeCe returns to the boys and successfully owns her piratude. Readers may note that few of these flights of fancy have much to do with pirates specifically. As in Alison McGhee and Eliza Wheeler’s Tell Me a Tattoo Story (2016), body art becomes the inspiration for any number of adventures and aphorisms, ending with the most important lesson: love. Game to give his granddaughter a 101 in how to be the best possible scurvy dog, he uses each of his tattoos to extol a virtue such as bravery or speed. After CeCe’s initial disappointment, she vows to get advice from the only true pirate she knows: her grandfather. Fitzgerald and Barrager give the old chestnut of a girl who’s turned away from a boys’ fort due to her gender alone a piratical twist.
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