The Curse of the Black Pearl: The Junior Novelization

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl #1

by Elizabeth Rudnick, Rob Kidd

The Black Pearl, a cursed pirate ship that haunts the seas with tattered black sails and a vicious crew, has just materialized in Port Royal and stolen away the governor's daughter, Elizabeth Swann. Will Turner, a young blacksmith in love with Elizabeth, sets sail to rescue her by whatever means necessary--even enlisting the help of a pirate! Enter Captain Jack Sparrow, a cunning and charismatic pirate with his own personal stake in the mission...the Black Pearl was once his ship and he aims to get it back.

Genres: Pirates, Fantasy, Childrens, Audiobook, Middle Grade, Adventure, Action

174 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2006

About the author

his is the part I'm always the worst at—talking about myself! So as you've figured out, my name is Elizabeth Rudnick and I'm a young adult author. I'm also a Senior Editor at Disney Press in New York City. I've edited books based on movies like Pirates of the Caribbean and Prince of Persia as well as Miley Cyrus's memoir, Miles to Go, which was a New York Times bestseller (imagine if Tweet Heart was too!) and a total blast to work on.

When I'm not working, I live in Connecticut with a big mutt named Jack Dyson (because he has the ability to suck up anything in his way) and have a habit of watching hours of mindless television. I like to think of it as research!

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a big fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean films and good film novelizations so when I found these books I was in heaven. Yes, I know I'm an adult and these are children's books but it's Pirates of the Caribbean, savvy? I really enjoyed actually reading scenes from the movie as they were written out in story form and I really had fun reading the lines and how some of them were different from the movie. I think any fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies will find these books entertaining and they're written well enough that you can read them without seeing the movie first.

[Carrie]

"That is by far the worst pirate I have ever seen". HOw could this not be an enjoyable experience reading, well of course it is. THis is a easy fun read pretty much in line with Disney's movie. I wish a few more of the one liners were in the book from the movie. THis was a good read, but was it really authored by Elizabeth Rudnick or authored by whomever wrote the Disney movie screenplay. Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

[Jana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Pirates. Also loved the movie too. It's been awhile since I've seen the movie, but still love the series(even if I haven't seen or don't remember seeing all of them). Jack is definitely a favorite character of mine. Johnny Depp(I don't remember how to spell his name. Sorry) did an amazing job with his character, and I could hear him and the other characters exact voices even though I was listening to it on audio(and of course weren't exact themselves). Just shows how good of a movie it was. I even played the Lego game of it, which was also fun. Definitely recommend. Especially for nostalgia sake.

[H H · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean, it does what it says on the proverbial tin. However sadly I feel that they tried to keep to the pace of the film so much that the book felt too rushed. If the time had been taken to build the descriptions for the reader, rather than relying on the fact that you’d probably seen the film to fill in those gaps, would have made for a much better story for a novel. Otherwise that being said, if you enjoyed the film you will probably enjoy the book, one of the rare occurrences where Hollywood couldn’t mess up the book/film thing because it was never a novel to begin with.

[Tiger · Rating 4 out of 5]

People always say the book is better than the movie... I think this proves them wrong lol That's not to say this book was bad, it was pretty good and filled me with happiness. But that's mostly because I've seen the movie a dozen times. I really think the movie was better.

The book was just so short and seemed to speed through the plot as if the author waited until the last day of their deadline to write this. It's a shame because we could have gotten so much more lore and information about the world and the characters.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good fun read for kids and adults. This would be a bit confusing for people that have not seen the movie. Simon Vance does a great job narrating the audiobook version. The author, Rudnick has done a few Disney novelizations now and they have been interesting. The pacing is quick and the story mostly tracks with the movie.

[Heidi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pirates of the Caribbean is my all time favorite movie that I've seen more times than I can count. I have junior novelizations of the whole series, and I listened to the audio book... just to find this isn't the junior novelization I have a copy of. I mean, it told the story, but really what it did is quote parts and remove a lot of the humor. Can't say I'm a huge fan of this version.

[Trista · Rating 4 out of 5]

My family and I have read and listened to all of the Jr. Novelizations of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. These are well written and great as read-alouds or audiobooks on long drives. We just started them over. :)

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweeping, swashbuckling read which follows closely in plot and dialogue to the movie. This was a fantastic book since I am a huge Pirates of the Caribbean fan. I wish there had been more historical and setting details to properly evoke the scenery but other than that, a whirlwind read!

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

True to movie. Loved the movies and Johnny Depp. Favorite quote page 133, "But why is the rum gone?" Another fun, quick read for the book/movie combo project that my sister and I are doing together.

[Kim Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasn’t a bad book. I did enjoy it, but I think this is one instance when I enjoy the movie over the book.

[Yasser Maniram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pure nostalgia and a faithful rendering of the movie.

[Rooney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book, but I bought it in the mistaken elief it was the novelisation of the film, not the YA version!

[Cynthia Jane Beckett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love James Norrington and I would've definitely chosen him.

[Sara Rothery · Rating 4 out of 5]

quickly reading but the highpoints of the film. you can 'see' what is occuring from the film.
lovely reading for kids.

[PM · Rating 5 out of 5]

it's been some time since i read a book that flows so flawlessly

[RoiAllen Campos]

I liked it and can't wait to read the second book.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ellie is totally into a pirates of the Caribbean phase. She started to read this book and then asked Dad to read it too so they could do their bookclub on it....krb 2/12/20

Ellie loved the book and Ben enjoyed it too. They did their book club on 3/1....krb 3/9/20

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you've seen the movie, you'll probably know about this book. The Curse of the Black Pearl has the same storyline as the movie. When everyone is searching for a lost and mysterious treasure, also with a ghostly ship with black sails lurking the Caribbean. Many pirates curse to find the treasure, and others, such as Will Turner don't believe these ghost stories, until the woman he loves is captured by the crew of the ship. So he ends up in need of Jack's help in order to find her. This book was pretty action packed just like the movie, I fancy the part when Elizabeth nearly drowns and Jack saves her and escapes. The book could've been better, but I still had a pleasant time reading it.

[Justin Sylvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

To any diehard P.O.C. fans, if your looking for a spot on word for word version of the movie, this isn't it. Thankfully there were some of the funnier lines in the book, however, I'm not sure if it was the way the book was written or the author's voice, cadence, or whatever but the moments that are funny-ish in the movie just aren't here. Story line wise it pretty much follows the movie as it played out. If your looking for a light read, where you all ready know what is going to happen due to the movie coming out first, then this isn't that bad of a book. If you prefer to keep the movie sacred & untarnished by someone else's interpretation of it.. well then skip this book. Overall for me it was an ok read that I had no problem in starting or finishing

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book Elizibeth Swan finds herself captive on board the ghost pirate ship called the Black Pearl. Will Turner whos father was bootstrap Bill sets out to find and rescue her along with the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow who used to captain the Black Pearl. Together they begin there adventure with a little stop at Tourtouga and to get some mates.

[KaDee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the pirates movie and my dad gave me this book. I was so excited. (I was probably 10 at the time) I really liked how it had the same plot from the movie, but the writing wasn't the greatest (I was picking out mistakes and I was 10 years old...) I thought that it was an okay adaption, but it's more for kids in 3rd or 4th grade than for teens and adults.

[Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that this was a great book because it was really exciting and I wanted to read more everyday.I also liked it because the genre was fantasy and that is my favorite genre.I rated it a 4 stars because it was an awesome book to read.

[Joni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why did I read this? I don't know. But for a kiddies-book-of-the-film, it's OK. It does its job.

[Ashleigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love these stories

[Heidi Snyder · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a good book. I thought that the character Jack Sparrow was very funny! :)