School Library Journal

Gr 1-4-A tall tale about an encounter between intrepid Captain Flynn and pirate Bill McGrew as they make their way along the Erie Canal. Flynn's crew battles the pirates on the water while on shore their mule, Frank, defends his hay from a one-eyed pirate mule. Eventually, Flynn navigates up Niagara Falls while the Erie pirates sink beneath the turbulent river. Glass's illustrations of the ramshackle boats and their motley crews emphasize the humorous elements and minimize any potential scariness. However, lumpy figures that appear slightly out of focus and muddied colors limit the visual appeal. Kimmel patterned his verse on the folksong that begins "We were forty miles from Albany." Unfortunately, he provides no music, and the bumpy verse doesn't have much rhythm of its own. Although there might be some regional interest in this book, most libraries will be better served by Peter Spier's interpretation of the song in his The Erie Canal (Doubleday, 1970).-Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University, Mankato Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Kimmel and Glass ( Grizz! , 2000) reunite for a rousing original tale of battle between canal pirates and a crew of mail carriers. Modeling his rhyme on the old ballad beginning, "We were 40 miles from Albany / Forget it I never shall . . . " Kimmel pits "Bill McGrew and his pirate crew / The Terror of Buffalo," against intrepid Captain Flynn, who carries the fight from Mohawk into Lake Ontario, to the whirlpool beneath Niagara Falls. While the pirates go down to become watery ghosts wandering the Tonawanda shore, Flynn, with the aid of his trusty mule Ole Frank, tales his flatboat up the Falls to safety. In an afterword, Kimmel explains the origin of his story—a visit to a class that had been studying the Erie Canal, where he began to make up the idea of pirates—and the geographical liberties he took. Glass adds to the fun with wet-brushed scenes of rumpled boats and equally rumpled river men, the latter sporting floppy hats and heavy facial hair. Children will want to book return trips after this anything-but-uneventful voyage. (map) (Picture book. 6-9)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Pirates move from the high seas to a manmade channel in The Erie Canal Pirates, from the team behind Grizz!, author Eric A. Kimmel and illustrator Andrew Glass. Inspired by the folk song """"The Erie Canal,"""" the tale follows Captain Flynn and his crew as they are besieged by bad guys: """"It was Bill McGrew and his pirate crew,/ The Terror of Buffalo,/ The Terror of Buffalo."""" Glass's unique blend of hyperbole and folk art strikes just the right note.

Horn Book (Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 2003)

A folksong about the Erie Canal in western New York inspired this rhyming tale of a larger-than-life fight on the canal between Captain Flynn's outnumbered, but courageous boat crew and an attacking band of pirates led by Bill McGrew. Colorful, often humorously caricatured--but sometimes blurry-looking--drawings keep pace with the fast action.

ALA Booklist (Tue Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 2002)

Borrowing from the song The Erie Canal, which he learned as a child, Kimmel modifies the lyrics and the song's original story to tell this tale of Captain Flynn's tense encounter with pirates and his incredible--even fantastical--solution to completing his journey along the canal. Each page is a stanza of the song, written like a limerick. Glass' comic illustrations add to the book's light tone: lumpy sailors and scrawny, prickly mules (including the hero, Old Frank) dominate the pastel-colored action scenes. With the book's exciting tension and uproariously implausible solution, young readers will root for Captain Flynn and Old Frank and will find the pirates to be tolerable antagonists for this joyous and good-hearted folktale. In author notes at the back of the book, Kimmel explains how he came up with the idea for his new version of the song and how he took liberties with geography to create a resolution that will surely fascinate children.