Princess June and the Shadow Pirates

R. Gordon Moyles is professor emeritus of English at the University of
Alberta. He is co-author of Imperial Dreams and Colonial Realities:
British Views of Canada, 1880–1914, author of The Salvation Army and
the Public, and editor of “Improved by Cult

This is a playful and unlikely fantasy told by an old lighthouse keeper
on the coast of Newfoundland.

In a distant kingdom the Princess June, aided by mysterious forces,
both human and supernatural, saves her people from the dark evils of the
Shadow Pirates. More lucky than resourceful, she causes the darkness to
vanish, “taking the pirates and their shadows with it.”

It’s a grand idea (as they might say in Newfoundland), but it fails
miserably. While the illustrations are intriguing—sculptured figures
against mainly realistic backgrounds—the storyline is too convoluted,
involving too many twists and turns, and is much too long to command
sustained interest. On a very practical level, the small type and
almost-full pages of text are off-putting, tedious to read silently and
painful to read aloud. On a stylistic level, the story needs to be
streamlined and simplified. Not a first-choice purchase.