The Pirate's Eye

Stitch Head embarks on a journey by sea.

The creations of Mad Professor Erasmus, Stitch Head, “a jigsaw of bits, pieces, and spare parts,” and the Creature spend their days in Castle Grotteskew attempting to subdue the professor’s monsters. When they and their friend Arabella, a pale-skinned girl from the nearby village, stumble upon the long-forgotten playroom where Stitch Head began his almost-life, they find the journal of Captain Flashpowder, who, on the book’s cover, has one icy-blue eye that resembles Stitch Head’s right eye. Could Stitch Head be “part pirate”? He and his friends are inspired to build a ship. After receiving an invitation to accept the Lifetime of Mad Professoring Award, Erasmus decides to leave the castle—forever. Though deeply hurt, Stitch Head realizes he, too, can leave, and the crew takes to the sea. While the book begins with a thrilling chase, the story pivots and slows as Stitch Head worries about his duty toward the professor and grapples with feelings of abandonment and inadequacy and a lack of direction. It is not until almost two-thirds in that the sense of excitement returns. The leisurely pace is saved by humor and short chapters that begin with entertaining excerpts from the journal of Captain Flashpowder as well as morbidly quaint black-and-white illustrations sprinkled throughout.

A little slow moving, but once the sails unfurl, readers are in for a silly adventure. (Fiction. 7-10)
--Kirkus Reviews