THE MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY

A specialist in nautical art, O’Brien finds a ready subject for his talents here, pairing dramatic, realistically detailed scenes of sailing ships and small boats tossed on rough waters (or anchored near idyllic Pacific islands) with a lucid account of the Bounty’s troubled final voyage, and the amazing 3,600 mile journey that Captain Bligh and a small group of loyal crewmembers were forced to undertake in an open boat after the mutiny. O’Brien tells the tale with a captioned mix of set pieces and sequential panels (the Tahitian women are demurely posed), carrying it through the British Navy’s urgent but largely futile search for the mutineers and their settlement on Pitcairn Island, up to the present day. Though he characterizes Bligh as a brilliant sailor, it’s the Captain’s severe lack of people skills that comes through most clearly; still, an adventuresome tale, well told. (bibliography) (Picture book/nonfiction. 9-11)