Subtitled "101 Stories of Courage, Hope, and Plunder," Chicken Soup for the Pirate's Soul is a worthy addition to the best-selling series and fills the glaring lack of pirate-oriented books in today's literary landscape.
    For swashbucklers struggling to find the time to both rape and pillage in a hurried workday, there's "The Princess's Two Booties," an uplifting story of a princess - of ample treasure and rear - and the walleyed pirate who overcomes his handicap to plunder all her assets in a single raid.
    The many pirates anxious about their body image will be especially inspired by "Ahoy! Courage," the tale of Captain Claw, an aging sailor who has hooks for both hands and feet. When his ship gets lost at sea and his crew begins to starve, Claw saves his men by volunteering to be a human fishing lure: "Blast! I be bait and four fish hooks all in one," he says. The image of the first mate lowering the brave captain down into the churning waves is one of the collection's most moving moments.

    As fans of the series have come to expect, Pirate's Soul also has some wonderfully lyrical passages. In "A Bloodfeast Most Befitting," Canfield's writing shines: "Betrayed by the malicious mutiny, the captain ordered his first mate's guts spread on two slices of bread and fed to the shimmering sharks."
    Ultimately, the collection succeeds in sharing the daily courage, compassion, and creativity that take place on pirate ships everywhere, as buccaneers bury treasure and walk planks. This edition of Chicken Soup will make any pirate's one working eye well up with tears.