Detail from a page in "Small Saul"
"Small Saul loved the sea. He loved its vastness, its calmness and its blueness."
Thus begins a tale about a small, goggle-eyed humanoid named Saul who longed for a life on the water. The navy wouldn't take him but pirates weren't as fussy about their manpower, and a Pirate College accepted him for a rigorous course in Looting: The Basics, Swabbing the Deck, and Treasure Map Interpretation, etc.
Saul wasn't a natural-born pirate: "He did well in Navigation, but lacked focus in Looting: The Basics. He was born to sing sea shanties, not to hold a sword."
By dint of perseverance Saul earned his Pirate Diploma and joined the motley crew of the Rusty Squid. It wasn't long before his shipmates figured out that there was something different about Saul. His tattoo (acquired to assert his toughness) was a bunny rabbit, and making things shipshape in Saul's mind was cleaning and redecorating the ship - think cushions in the hammocks and a purple runner under them. Before long, Saul is tossed overboard.
But he is missed by the pirate crew, more than they could ever have imagined. He had made a home of their ship, and the pirates had come to see that, "Just like treasure, Small Saul was rare." He is retrieved from the drink and there are apologies. Small Saul forgives the crew: "They were pirates, after all. Throwing people overboard is just something they do." It's pretty much a sure thing that Small Saul and the pirates lived happily ever after. Saul, for one, "was where he was meant to be, sailing the high seas and being a pirate in his own special way."
The artwork in this book - of fearsome pirates and not-so-fearsome Small Saul, "was rendered in ink, watercolor, water, flour, a cup of sugar, a dash of vanilla and baked at 350 degrees." This statement provides all you need to know about the general tone of this delightful book.