She’s an absolute Jezebel!

Behind the Counter stood a complaisant Spark, who I observ'd shew'd as much Breeding in the sale of a Penny-worth of Tobacco, and the change of a Shilling, as a Courtier's Footman when he meets his Brother Skip in the middle of Covent-Garden; and is so very dexterous in discharge of his Occupation, the he guesses from a Pound of Tobacco to an Ounce to the certainty of one Corn […]

Hungry for fame and the approval of rare-animal collector Queen Victoria (Imelda Staunton), Darwin deceives the Captain and his crew into believing they can get enough booty to win the pirate competition by entering Polly in a science fair. So the pirates journey to London in cheerful, blinkered defiance of the Queen, a hotheaded schemer whose royal crest reads simply “I hate pirates.”

The illustrations, by Michael Foreman, are a little pallid and storybookish, with at least one — a depiction of Grendel’s mother as a grass-skirted fashion disaster with scaly green breasts — that is apt to elicit snickers rather than shudders.