I just finished "Capt. Hook: The Adventures of a Notorious Youth" by JV Hart (who wrote the screenplays for Hook and Muppet Treasure Island) and illustrated by Brett Helquist (who illustrated the Lemony Snicket books) — and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Capt. Hook tells the story of the boyhood of Jas. Matthew, the bastard son of an important English lord. "King" Jas. is sent to Eton, where he encounters the savage Arthur L Darling, a sadistic Colleger (scholarship student) who takes an immediate dislike to our hero. King Jas isn't cowed, though: instead, he bravely bears the beatings and other depredations heaped on him by Darling and his thugs, rallying Oppdians (tuition-paid students).
So high is their spirit that they score a once-in-a-century goal in the Wall Game, a savage sport that usually ends up in stalemate. In so doing, he wins the heart of a visiting Sultana, and he pursues her despite the Queen's injunction against her mixing with a bastard suitor.
His misadventures land him on a ship bound for Africa, signed on for seven years' service as a cabin-boy, and here we see the beginnings of his nautical adventures.
The book is written in an arch, semi-Victorian style (I was reminded favorably of Phillip Pullman's Dark Materials books and Joan Aiken's Wolves Chronicles), with plenty of savage action, cursing and bravado, derring-do, revenge and complex evil.
I found it a little overlong, but not nearly so much as, say, Wicked, another villain's point-of-view book, which was so incredibly long and dull in the middle that I barely finished it.
Hook appears to be the first in a series of books, and I'm certain I'll pick up the sequels. This is a great book to give to the impressionable, bright kids in your life. It has just the right mix of philosophy and adventure to inspire young people to question the world around them and the stories they're raised with.
