Books like Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor

A delightful children's book, handwritten and illustrated by Mervyn Peake, though like all really good children's books, it can also be enjoyed by adults.This book reflects Peake's lifelong love of pirates and islands, though it's really a simple story of friendship, fun and adventure. The Captain and his mate, Smear, bond partly over a shared joy of reading. One surprise is the lack of a peg-leg, given that Barquentine (in Gormenghast, which I reviewed HERE) and the eponymous Lost Uncle (my review HERE) both have one.The publication date means there are hints of colonialism, but in context, I have no problem with that. FantasticalThe opening strikes a change from the traditional "Once upon a time", yet somehow has a fairytale familiarity, enhanced by its illustration:"Far beyond the jungles and the burning deserts lay the bright blue ocean that stretched forever in all directions. There were little green islands with undiscovered edges, and whales swam around them in this sort of way." There is a panoply of fantastical creatures, with suitably exotic names, including the lonely Mousterashe, croaking Hunchabil, lazy Guggaflop, melancholy Saggerdroop, loathsome Squirmarins, along with the prosaically named, Yellow Creature (male in pronoun, but not exactly masculine).IllustrationsThe pictures are a pen and ink. Many are black and white; others use just a few solid colours (it was first published in 1939). There is a general air of Heath Robinson, the carvings on the ship resemble caricatures of ancient Greek statues, and there’s a large wave echoing Hukusi’s famous one (but rolling the other way, and with a ship atop). There is a wealth of detail in the lines, shading and stippling. This is especially true of details: tattoos, body hair, fabric, plants, sea creatures, and patched repairs of people(!), clothes and ship. Adults may notice some rather phallic stylising of noses, fingers, and a banana.Sexuality and gender fluidity?The lack of women reflects the plot and setting, but there is a gay subtext, or would be if the yellow creature was unambiguously male. In appearance, the yellow creature isn't, but the text uses he/him pronouns. It's subtle and ahead of its time: a subtext that will go over the heads of small children and shouldn't be an issue for anyone anyway. This aspect is the theme of an exhibition at the Kunstmuseum in Luzern, 28.10.2017 07.01.2018 (details here).Most cowboy stories and many pirate ones have similar, tacit, themes, which is why Brokeback Mountain was startling (as mentioned in my review, HERE)."The British author and draftsman Mervyn Peake (1911-1968) created a figure with Yellow Creature already in 1939, which in every drawing between woman and man, animal and man 'changiert' and while still faithful above all remains faithful to itself. Yellow Creature is therefore the title for the group exhibition, which focuses on the relationship between gender and genres." Short and charming. And a little bit adult if you want it to be.All My Peake ReviewsNote that this is unrelated to Mr Slaughterboard, which is a longer, nastier (a more violent and tyrannical pirate captain), less illustrated story of a bibliophile, and is included in "Peake's Progress" (my review HERE).All my Peake/Gormenghast reviews (including biographies/memoirs and books about his art) are on a shelf, HERE.