The Secret Pirate

By Elli Woollard and Laura Ellen Anderson

Lil is a pirate, a good sort of pirate, and when there is someone to save,
she'll do what is right (if it takes her all night). Yes, she'll always be bold and be brave.

When evil pirate Stinkbeard tries to kidnap Lil's teacher, it's up to schoolgirl and secret pirate, Lil, to come to the rescue. In story two it's sports day, but there's a very hungry croc on the loose. Can Lil and her trusty parrot, Carrot, scare Stinkbeard and his pet croc away?

Swashbuckle Lil: The Secret Pirate, by author Elli Woollard and illustrator Laura Ellen Anderson, is the first in an exciting series with two rip-roaringly rhyming, brilliantly illustrated stories in each book which make the perfect transition from parent-led to independent reading.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Release date: May 19, 2016
• ISBN: 9781509808830

Elli Woollard

Elli Woollard is an exciting talent on the picture books scene, who started writing stories after an embarrassing incident in which her youngest son broke Michael Rosen's glasses. In addition to picture books, she also writes children's poems. Her snappy rhymes, catchy rhythms and witty stories are sure to make her a huge success. Elli has written The Giant of Jum, Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories and The Dragon and the Nibblesome Knight for Macmillan, as well as the young fiction series Swashbuckle Li. Elli lives in London with her four children, her husband and two guinea pigs.

Book preview

To Thomas and Oscar

E.W.

For Gill and Matt –

fellow partners in crime

and coffee consumption!

L.E.A

Contents

The Secret Pirate

1

2

3

4

5

6

Croc Ahoy!

1

2

3

4

5

6

The Secret Pirate

When Lil sat at school doing spellings and sums,

Nobody, nobody guessed

That she wasn’t at all like an ordinary girl,

And that under her jumper and vest . . .

Lil was a pirate, a

swashbuckling pirate,

Whose home was a ship with great sails,

Who had travelled the seas in the blustery breeze

And had ridden the waves with huge whales.

At weekends Lil never sat watching TV,

Or played on the swings in the park,

But instead she might fight with a monster all night

In waters that shimmered with sharks.

No, nobody guessed at Lil’s pirating life,

Though the children all thought it quite odd

That instead of school dinners Lil